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3 A Y I N Y 0 0 ? ' A v 5
Input
Current : e
s por s e
Desired Response
/Tv
>SAY "ARTHUR DENT"
t he
Right
Thing
T h e
Right
T h i r g
> S A Y " M Y NAME IS A R T H L R CENT"
The
Right
Thing
The
R i ch t
Thing
> S A Y "I AM ARTHUR DENT"
The
Right
Thine
The
Right
Thine
r *
> S A Y » I ' M A R T H U R 0 E N T «
The
Right
T h i r c
T h e
Right
T h i ra g
>S A T "anything else"
"ins
i n c e - i
t y "
" i n s
'
j t v "
> S A Y MY NAME
T he
Right
Thing
The
Right
Thing
> 5 E A $ T , ARTHUR DENT
"no
v e r d "
The
Right
Thing
>5EAST, I AM ARTHUR DENT
The
Right
T hing
The
Right
Thine
> 5 E A S T , I AM anything else
"ins
incerity"
"insinger
i t y "
>dE AST, m Y NAME IS ARTHUR DENT
The
Right
Thing
The
R i g h t
T h i n g
> 6 E AST , V Y NAVE anything else
"ins
inceri
ty"
"ins
incerity "
■
>TELL BEAST my NAME
The
R i o h t
Thin g
The
Right
t h i r g
>TELL MY NAME TO BEAST
The
Right
T h i n c
The
Right
T h i r g
MART^LR DENT
"no
verb"
"no
verb"
r--
carv:
NG YOUR NAVE
Input
Current Response
J e s i
r e d R
espouse
>C AR V E MY NAME ON MEMCRIAL
The
Right
Thing
The
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Date: 11 Jul 1 98 4 18 15- 8 IT
From: Steve Meretzky < S S v at Z 0 R K >
Subject: GOD 5 Y N T A. X
To: IMPS at. ZOR K
Any suggestions on how to make
>CHARACT£R, MY NAME IS ARTHUR DENT
parse? You can currently
>SAY " ARTHUR C ~ N T M
nut I think that eyerie mill try the other' ^ sy also. Can you think
of any other mays that people might try to co mere this incut?
From : Jerry wolper < J w a + Z 0 R N >
Subject: Re: u D 0 SYNTAX
To: ScM
In-Reply-To : Your message of ll-Jul-84 1815-
C Q T
If MY is
I AM ARTHUR DENT
I'M ARTHUR DENT
a o u z z and NAME is a verb) you should be abl
MY NAME IS JCE F 0 C .
a to do
From: Jon Palace < J C N at Z 0 R K >
Suoject: Re: ODD SYNTAX
To: S £ M
message o
In-Reply-To: Tour
ll-Jul-84 1315
-im-
possibly:
>C M ARACT=R, CALL ME ARTHUR DENT
- r o m : Michael 5 e r 1 y n < M S £ at Z 0 R K >
Subject: Re:
To: SEN
G DO SYNTAX
In-Reply-To:
Your message
o f
As far as other syntaxes
go ,
C M A A »
I AM ARTHUR
0 6
Char ,
I'M ART H U R
CHAR ,
I'M n p n j E D
QT
-rom: S t u Galley < S W G at Z 0 R K >
Subject: Re: ODD SYNTAX
To: S E M
~ C • W n U
In-Reply-To: You*- message of ll-Jul-84 1815-
5 DT,
I can't see any way to make that oarseabie* but I have two comments:
1. You can lead players to use the right syntax by the way you arrange the
ujo r ds in the cue. E • g . instead of "What is your name?" the pro oram/character
can say "Tell me your name."
2. You may oe opening a cognitive can of a; or ms ev n if ycu man a g e to parse
that incut. Will success with that sentence lead players to type
>MY QUEST IS THE HOLY
v? Pv
5 AIL
>MY
c n
) AL IS TC oE HAPPY
> Y DUS' ? k C _ L D v IS TDD « UC - DEE?
etc.? will you describe t m s syntax in
* H
m s n u a 1 ?
In Seastalker I
so that the r u 1
ven eliminated W h A T
ui s s very s i m c 1 e 1 use
W * E R E in favor c-f DESCRIES £
o t T - n d : = irrr-erative vsro?.
NC
y"*--
/^N
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE. TG THE GALAXY
Infncnm Interactive Science Eictinn
Plot Synopsis, 4/I6/R4
»
NOTE: As of this writing, the game is only about 40% complete. I have no
idea what the scenario for the remainder of the game will be. Adams also
insists that he has no idea what the scenario for the remainder of the game
will he.
In the game, you are Arthur Dent, a rather ordinary resident of a small
British town (Footnote I). The game opens, as does the book, with Arthur
waking in his bedroom with a terrific hangover, while bulldozers stand poised
outside his house to demolish it.
If you leave the house before it is demolished, you can block the bulldozer
by lying in front of it. Your friend, Ford Prefect, comes along at this point,
asks you along to the nearby Pub (Footnote 3) and tells you that the Earth
is about to be demolished (Footnote 4).
Sure enough, several minutes later, spaceships from a Vogon Constructor
Fleet scream through the sky and announce that the planet is about to be
demolished. Using Ford's "Thumb", an Electronic Sub-Etha Hitchhiking Device
(Footnote 3) you hitch a ride aboard one of the Vogon ships, via a matter
transference beam, waking up in total darkness without the use of any of
your senses.
Ford revives you, using some oowerful alien smelling salts, and gives you a
packet of peanuts. These will restore the protein you lost during the matter
transference. Failing to eat these peanuts is fatal.
There is a chance, however, that you will wake up NOT aboard the Vogon
shin, but in fact in the lair of the Ravenous 3ugb!atter Beast of Traal. This
is a fiercely carnivorous heast, hut also mrnd-bogglingly stupid. If you have
your towel, you can wrap it abound your head (Footnote 8). This buys you
some time.
In the courtyard outside the Lair is a memorial on which the Bpast carves
the name of everyone it's ever eaten. The ultimate solution to surviving the
Beast is to carve your name on the memorial. The Beast is so stupid that it
will see your name on the memorial and think that it has already eaten you.
Eventually, you find yourself aboard the Heart of Gold, a magnificent space-
ship stolen by the two-headed President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox.
It is here that you meet Marvin, the most depressed and depressing robot in
the universe. It is also here that Arthur begins to yearn for some tea, but
the ship's Nutrimat. continues to produce Advanced Tea Substitute, which
bears no resemblance to tea at all.
The Heart of Gold is powered by the brilliant new Infinite Improbability
Drive, which lies in the engine room of the ship. This area is so dangerous
that you actually have to_argue with the game for several moves before
you're able to get into the engine room. Once there, you have to LOOK
several times hefnre the game breaks down and gives you a description of
the room. Once you've done this, you can use the drive.
Every time the drive is used, there are all sorts of unexpected and unpleas-
ant side effects. For example, a sperm whale is created in the upper at-
mosphere of a planet and plunges to its death. Another use of the drive
would put you in the stomach of the whale as it fell. Vet another use of
the drive would turn you into Ford Prefect on his way to warn his friend
Arthur Dent that the Earth is about to be demolished (Footnote 10).
While all this is going on, you're trying to figure out what the object of the
game is. In fact, all the other characters are also trying to figure out what
the object of the game is. Marvin, for example, might moan about how he
has no idea what the object of the game is and that his score is negative
fifty billion points. The object of the game turns out to be: To Be Happy.
Your progress toward the object of the game is completely unconnected with
your score!
Some objects for the package:
* Destruct order for Arthur's house
* Destruct order for the Earth (strangely similar)
* Peril-sensitive sunglasses (opaque black)
* A towel (Footnote 9)
■a-*****************-**********-**-**
1. Notice that this is the first time we are using a main character of esta-
blished gender (Footnote 2).
2. Speaking of footnotes, these are used in the game itself tc identify
quotes, insert hunr ' mus side remarks, and generally anotate the text of the
game.
3. The Horse and Groom (Footnote 6).
4. The Earth is being demolished for the same reason that Arthur's house is
being demolished: to make room for a by-pass.
5. The Thumb is manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, a firm
of absolutely no morals whatsoever. The Thumb carries a lifetime guarantee,
but for the guarantee to be in effect the guarantee must be affixed to the
thumb. It falls off the first time you read it. If you summon a repair robot
when the Thumb (naturally) malfunctions, the robot argues that, although the
Thumb does have a lifetime guarantee, it doesn't have a very long average
lifetime.
6. The Horse and Groom also sells some of the most revolting cheese
sandwiches ever to appear in anv computer game. You can buy one of these
and feed it to the dog in the lane outside the Pub. The dog is so busy with
the sandwich that it fails to eat a passing microscopic space fleet (Footnote
7 ).
7. This is fortunate, since you later find yourself aboard this very same mi-
croscopic space - -f leet-.
Page 3
8. The Beast, is so dim, it thinks that if you can't see it, then it can't see
you.
9. In order to fit a towel in the package, it would have to he quite tiny,
perhaps two inches by four inches. This unusally small size could he expla-
ined by a warning label along the lines of "WARNING: Storage of this towel
near magnetic media can cause severe shrinkage." Or perhaps "WARNING:
Keeping this product inside a plastic-wrapped carton for prolonged period
may result in slight shrinkage of the material."
10. Actually, Ford is seeking Arthur to return the towel he borrowed.
According to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Footnote 11) "if you bor-
row the towel of another, you MUST return it before leaving their world."
11. The Hitchhikers Guide is a terribly useful little book (Footnote 12) that
Ford carries around in his satchel. You can consult it about all so~ts of in-
teresting things, such as the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, described
earlier in this document, or the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, the single most
devastating drink ever invented.
12. Actually, the Hitchhikers Guide isn't really a book, its more of a termi-
nal, using a Sub-Etha net to access information stored light-years away. If
the Guide itself actually contained all the information it has access to, it
would be the size of several large buildings (Footnote 13).
13. The astute reader will, at this point, be wondering how several buildings
worth of information, plus the usual Interloqic game, all fit on one 5.25-inch
floppy disk 9 —nod question. It's all possible thanks to Infocom's incredible
proprietary compression techniques.
Friday, 27-Apr-84, 16:40 — Subject: New stuff
Steve,
Thanks for the TEXTFILE, which I received safely. This letter is
re-edited from the last one, rather than started from scratch, so there will
be some duplication. All the new material is in here rather than in a Brain-
storm file. "%" means doubtful.
The file is ’’work in progress", so there are of course some loose ends
and non-sequitors. However, most of it should give you a clear indication of
how the game as a whole shapes up.
1. End of Game.
Game ends with the ship landed on Magrathea. Your final task is to
open the hatch door and go down the ramp. You will only be able to go
down the ramp (which will be where the second game starts) if you are
feeling cheerful, relaxed and ready for anything the Universe can throw at
you - in other words if you have scored sufficient points.
There must be something here to involve the things v/hich get collected
from various areas of the game - the bits of fluff.
2. Object of the Game.
"To be happy" I've already put in a few places where you gain extra po-
ints for "enjoying" something when it happens, and I will insert quite a few
more at a later stage. "Enjoying" something should in a w ay be equivalent
to picking up pieces of treasure in Zork. Some things you will not be able
to enjoy un less you have done something else already.
The first time you are likely to think of the "enjoy" notion is v/hen you
being subjected Vogon poetry. There will be sufficient clues in the text to
suggest to a the player that instead of just suffering it, you enjoy it and
the torment will end. You will get congratulated on this and win a lot of
points.
Only ARTHUR has the capacity to "enjoy" things. However, it will be
necessary to do certain things while you are FORD (and also while you are
ZAPHOD and TRILLIAN, which I will come to in a moment) which enable
ARTHUR to "enjoy" things he otherwise wouldn't be able to.
3. End of the Game.
The end of the game is at the top of the ramp leading down to the sur-
face of the planet Magrathea. You will have had to get the ship to land
and the hatchway door to open. However, you will not be able to go down
the rarfip because you are feeling anxious, nervous and ill-at-ease. You will
only feel sufficiently jaunty if you have scored enough points.
4. Role Switching
There will be two other scenes (at least) in which you get to play other
characters:
*Zaphod stealing the HEART OF GOLD.
*Trillian being picked up by Zaphod at the party (you are TRILLIAN).
In each case there will be things that You-as-other-character will have
to get while you are in those scenes because you-as-Arthur will need to get
hold of them later from the other character.
There will have to be something added to the You-as-Ford sequence.
There will be something that you-as-Arthur can see while you are there, but
Page 2
cannot reach (therefore it will have to be something that: we don't see Ford
picking up - either something that Prosser has (a badge on his jacket? Some
fluff on his jacket? Money?) or something from the pub which Ford gets
AFTER Arthur has left.
Either way the point is that the player will at some point spot that he
is meant to have this item, and replay the game in an attempt to get the
item. He will be frustrated until he realises that he gets to go back to the
scene as Ford, and will be able to pick up the item that way.
5. Time Travel
Yes, still tricky. I'm thinking of specific controlled instances at the
moment rather than a general power. It has to be dealt with in some way
otherwise there will be all sorts of areas of the game which will be com-
pletely unaccessible once you've been through them.
I'm leaving solving this until most of the rest of the game is in place,
because we will then know what problems there are to be solved, and the
time travel device may be useful to solve them selectively.
6. Rooms
Here's a list (not necessarily definitve) of the rooms I think we're going
to need.
* Arthur's Bedroom
*Hallway
*Front of Arthur's House (as Arthur)
*Country Lane (as Arthur)
*Pub (as Arthur)
*Front of Arthur's House (as Ford)
*Country Lane (as Ford)
*Pub (as Ford)
*Dark
^Ravenous Bugblatter Beast's Lair.
*3east's Courtyard
*Vogon Hold
*Poetry Appreciation chamber
* Airlock
*Heart of Gold Entry Bay Number Two
*Heart of Gold Bridge
improbability Drive Area
*Corridor
*Hatchway, leading to ramp. (End of Game)
*Marvin's Pantry
*Galley (Nutrimat)
* Whale 's Stomach
*Presidential Boat
*Launch Site
*Party
*Vl'hurg ship
*Dark
7. Traal
There should be something to collect from the Beast's lair. Like what?
There must be some actual benefit to be accrued from going to Traal.
What happens if you go to Traal a second time? Is the Beast still
asleep? Do you have to go through the business again? If so, what about
the fact that you've already carved your name on the memorial? Probably
Beast still asleep.
You leave Traal by using the thumb - so you have to have it with you.
However, it won't work without the guarantee, and the aunt's gift won't turn
up till after you've solved the problem of the beast.
Here's the point - the Drive gets you INTO Dark, from whence you may
get to other places, according to whether or not you can control Dark. The
Thumb will get you from Traal to the HoO, from the Vogon Airlock to the
HoG, from the whale's stomach to HoG.
8. Airlock
Leave the airlock using the thumb - before it opens. If it opens you get
ejected into open space and die. You will be given a second chance and find
yourself in Dark, which will lead you on this occasion to the HoG, but there
must be some penalty to pay and I don't know what it is yet.
9. Heart of Gold
I IMP DRIVE AREA !
spar e drive,
vec t or plotter
! ENTRY BAY ! | CORRIDOR ! ! BRIDGE
D!
GALLEY | ! HATCHWAY
nutr i ma t
RAMP
I end of game 1
| |
You will arrive in the Entry Bay from the Vogon airlock, from Traal,
from the whale's stomach, and from Dark. If you come here from Dark, the
instruction is "listen to dark" which will get you either to HoG or the
Vl'Hurg ship. "You hear the deep and distant roar of a star drive coming
from far beneath your feet..."
There's all kinds of stuff and people on the Bridge. On a console there
is an interface. This is for plugging in the spare Improbability Drive.
10. Nutrimat
If you go to the Nutrimat and ask for tea, it gives you advanced tea
substitute. (Put in all the stuff about the BOUQUET ARBITRATION BUS
Page 4
etc.) If you insist on having tea, then the Nutrimat engages the ship's com-
puter. Shortly after this the missiles are launched.
[The missiles will be launched anyway, within a certain number of moves
after you have entered the Heart of Gold (assuming you are still on it. If
for any reason you get off it before the missiles are launched then the
count is paused and resumes when you return to the ship. If you start the
Computer helping the Nutrimat then that starts another countdown to cue
the missiles. The game chooses whichever countdown is the shortest at this
point.)]
If the missiles are launched before you've got the computer stuck deal-
ing with the Nutrimat, then the reason the computer can't be accessed is
that it's being jammed from Magrathea, as in the original version of the
story.
To escape the missiles you must use the Spare Drive, but you have to
get the Spare Drive from the Improbability Drive area to do it, and give
the Spare Drive either some tea or some advanced tea substitute.
The only way of getting real tea is by hooking up the computer and the
nutrimat. You do this deliberately, though you will be offered clues suggest-
ing that you can do this. How would you know that you've got to get hold
of tea 9
You are carrying around "no tea" which you are not allowed to drop. If
you try to drop it you will either be prompted "You're talking complete non-
sense, pull yourself together" or "I see no tea here." If you "take tea" (once
it has arrived in the game) then the game says "no tea: dropped". If you
then try and "take no tea", the game says "You are asking the impossible,
or at least, the very very improbable" (very very improbable is better than
infinitely improbable). If you drop the tea, then the game will say "tea:
Dropped, no tea: Taken."
This will not apply if you have "Advanced Tea Substitute". You can have
"no tea" and "Advanced Tea Substitute" at the same time. The whole point
is that A.T.S. is NOT tea. (Abbreviation for Advanced Tea Substitute is
A.T.S.).
If you don't manage to avert the missiles in time the ship will be hit
and you will lose the game.
If you don't know to nag the Nutrimat for tea, the missiles will still be
launched, and you will solve the problem with the Advanced Tea Substitute.
The problem is that if you nag the nutrimat to produce tea AFTER and
it has to take over the computer, what are you going to be prevented from
doing because the computer is out of operation? Landing the ship, I suppose.
Using the Spare Drive on the ship you destroys the interface in the pro-
cess, so you can't plug it in again.
If you try to make tea AFTER you've averted the missile attack, (thus
disabling the computer) then the ship goes into a dive.
If you then use the Spare Drive (which you will have to do if you are
to prevent the ship hitting the ground) then one of several things might
happen (on a randomising routine).
The chances are very high that you will come to a sticky and bizarre
end. There is one chance that you will have things work out well - though
I'm not sure what that will be yet.
11. Engine Room
In here is the main Drive, a spare, portable drive, and an atomic vector
plotter.
Page 5
The main drive is under the control of the ship's computer and Though
do you have to repair it after you have used the spare drive on the ship?
The Spare Drive has a switch, and two connections. The atomic vector
plotter has a connection and a long dangly bit. To get the spare drive to
work you must connect the plotter to the drive and put the long dangly bit
in some tea, or some advanced tea substitute.
Advanced tea substitute is readily available from the Nutrimat, but does
not work so well as proper tea, which you will have to get hold of by link-
ing the Nutrimat up to the shipboard computer, which results in the ship
being temporarily disabled.
When the ship is disabled, (or before if you take a long time to get
round to it) missiles are launched at it, which will eventually hit the ship
and end the game unless you save yourself.
[If the missiles are launched before you have disabled the ship, (because
you've taken too long) then the shipboard computer says that there is some-
thing jamming its guidance systems (as in the book)]
You save situation by plugging the spare drive (via its other connection)
into a console on the Bridge, and turning the switch.
As a result of this the missiles are at the last moment transformed into
a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias, which fall to the surface of the
planet.
(At another point in the game you will emerge from Dark to find that
you are either in the whale's stomach, or the whale - not certain which yet.
Maybe both...)
At the same time, the ship's computer comes back on line and if you
then go back to the Nutrimat you will find it will produce real tea.
Any time you use the Spare Drive without connecting it to the ship it
will transport you into DARK.
12. Dark
The first time you go into DARK (from the Earth) you will go first to
the Vogon hold. Thereafter a random routine determines which exit you get
offered (as in previous notes).
Mostly you enter dark by using the spare drive with the advanced tea
substitute.
%You will only get to do the role-switching seguences if you have gone
into DARK by using the drive with proper tea.
You (Arthur) cannot relax and ENJOY things that happen to you in
space till you've had a cup of tea.
So in order to gain control of dark (which involves attaining negative
capability) you must first have had a cup of tea - NOT advanced tea substi-
tute. Advanced tea substitute makes you feel tetchy.
So - the things you have to do once you have got on board the HoG are
as follows. Go to the Nutrimat, get a cup of advanced tea substitute, but
demand that it makes you some proper tea.
This involves hooking the nutrimat up to the shipboard computer. The
ship is now disabled. Missiles attack it. You go to the Improbability Drive
area v/ith the advanced tea substitute. You attach the atomic vector plotter
to the spare drive, put the dangly bit in the advanced tea substitute and
take the whole contraption to the bridge and connect it to the interface.
Turn on spare drive.
This saves the ship, turns the missiles in to a sperm whale and a bov/1
of petunias. You can now get tea from the nutrimat.
Page 6
However, if you do it in this order you will only JUST have time to do
it before the missiles hit the ship. Take one move too many and you lose.
It can all be done faster if you have first got the eguipment you need
from the Drive area (this takes a while because of the argument with the
game about going into the drive area) and taken it through to the bridge
and connected it, and so on.
Once you have drunk the tea (which you need to do) you can get anoth-
er cup of tea (presumably as far as the program is concerned it's the same
one) from the Nutrimat.
13. Tea / No tea.
% You can't have both, at first. If you have accepted and "enjoyed” lots
of things on the v/ay through the game, and have therefore reached a state
of negative capability through your own efforts, then maybe that is what
enables you to have tea and no tea at the same time.
In which case: what is the function of the tea/no tea dilemma? How do
you get to have both of them simultaneously, and why should you want to?
What happens as a result? It should be something towards the end.
Alright - using the spare drive has jiggered the main drive, which needs
something much more improbable than tea to run off. Mere tea is not
enough. Advanced tea substitute practically destroys it. Only by giving it
tea and no tea at the same time can it be made to operate again.
The shipboard computer should prompt - What the ship reguires at this
point in time is impossible, or at least, infinitely improbable.
When you try to have tea and no tea at the same time the game says
"What you're asking is impossible - or at least, infinitely improbable."
If you drop "no tea" in Dark (after you've mastered Dark) you can then
come back and pick up tea. Go to dark again and pick up "no tea".
14. Fluff
The yet more fluff could be in the Presidential Speedboat, and some-
thing else again could be at the party, so that you have to get those pieces
of fluff (or whatever).
15. Setting off the V's and G's
At any point after Arthur has left the Earth, if the player issues an in-
struction of five words which the game is for any reason unable to execute,
then this happens:
"It is of course well known that careless talk costs lives, but the full
scale of the problem is not always appreciated. For instance at the exact
moment that you said <REPE AT THE UNEXECUTABLE INSTRUCTION
HERE> a freak wormhole opened up in the fabric of the space time contin-
uum and carried your words far far back in time across almost infinite re-
aches of space to a distant galaxy where strange and warlike beings were
poised on the brink of frightful interstellar battle.
The two opposing leaders were meeting for the last time. A dreadful si-
lence fell across the conference table as the commander of the Vl'hurgs,
resplendent in his black jewelled battle shorts, gazed levelly at the
G'Gugvunt leader squatting opposite him in a cloud of green sweet-smelling
steam, and with a million sleak and horribly beweaponed star cruisers poised
to unleash electric death at his single word of command, challenged the vile
creature to take back what it had said about his mother.
Page 7
The creature stirred in its sickly broiling vapour, and at that very mo-
ment the words < > drifted across the conference table. Unfortunately, in
the Vl'hurg tongue this was the most dreadful insult imaginable, and there
was nothing for it but to wage terrible war for centuries. Over two hundred
and fifty thousand worlds, their peoples and cultures perish in the holocaust.
You have destroyed most of a small galaxy. Please pick your words with
greater care.”
[If the player has not issued an unexecutable instruction by a certain
time in the game, there will have to be a default which will pick on some
other long instruction that he issues.]
16. Aboard the Fleet of the V's and G's
ONE OF THE TWO RESPONSES TO THE "LISTEN" INSTRUCTION IN
"DARK" [see earlier notes about getting out of "DARK". This option will
only go into effect once the first Vl'hurg/G 'Gugvunt sequence has occurred.
If the player has already mastered DARK by then (by taking with him the
Spare Improbability Drive, Atomic Vector Plotter and Tea) then I suppose he
would be able to avoid this section altogether, but would then not score
maximum "happiness" points.]
>listen to dark
You hear the deep and distant roar of a star drive coming
from far beneath your feet. There is an exit to the north and
another to the east.
>East
You can't go that way.
>East
You can't go that way.
>East
You can't go that way. We were lying about the exit to the East.
>North
You emerge from a small doorway. Spread before you is, astonishingly
enough, the War Chamber of a star battle cruiser. Through the domed
canopy of the ship you can see the rest of a vast and horribly
beweaponed fleet flying in formation around and behind you through
the black, glittering emptiness of space. Ahead of you in the darkness
is a star system towards which you are hurtling at a terrifying speed.
Standing near you are two creatures who are gazing at the
star with blazing hatred in their eyes. One is wearing black
jewelled battle shorts, and the other is wreathed in green
sweet-smelling steam. They are talking to each other.
>Examine Vl'Hurg.
The Vl'Hurg leader looks very typically Vl'Hurgish.
>Examine G 'Gugvunt
The G 'Gugvunt leader is looking typically G 'gugvuntish.
[The point of this is - is it worth putting in a little problem
which will require you're remembering which one is which?]
>Listen
Eventually, of course, after their galaxy had been decimated
over the course of a few thousand years, it was realised that the
whole thing had been a ghastly mistake, and so the two opposing
battle fleets settled their few remaining differences in order to
launch a joint attack on this Galaxy, now positively identified
Page 8
as the source of the offending remark.
>examine star
It is a small, unregarded yellow sun.
>examine star system
It consists of nine planets of varying sizes orbitting a small,
unregarded yellow sun. The third planet catches your attention.
>examine third planet
It is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet, of
the sort where they probably still wear digital watches.
Your simple act of kindness at a moment of great personal anxiety, (you fed
the dog, remember?) now brings you rich rewards. The battle fleet plunges
towards the planet Earth, sees the dog, which appears to them 3S a gigantic
monster, cheerfully tucking into a cheese sandwich. the Vl'hurgs and the
G'gugvunts are much moved by this simple picture of happiness, compare it
briefly with the furious savagery of their own lives, think back to a day
when they used to relax over the odd cheese sandwich themselves, often at
sunset after a hearty day working in the fields back in Vl'Hurgon and
G'gugvia, and decide to return and rebuild their homes in a new spirit of
harmony and cooperation.
This should keep you busy for a wee bit. I'll send you new bits in each
letter. All the best,
Douglas.
You are in the Galley area of the Heart of Gold. This contains a
machine which is the State of the Art in Nutritional Technology,
a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Nutrimat.
It is a large white machine with a touch-sensitive pad, a dispensing
slot and a service panel.
>touch pad
The Nutrimat makes an instant hut highly detailed examination of
your taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of your metabolism and
sends tiny experimental signals down your neural pathways to see
what you like.
A cupful of Advanced Tea Substitute appears in the dispensing slot.
>take cup
T aken.
>drink tea substitute.
It tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. It's absolutely
disgusting. The Nutrimat says "Share and Enjoy".
>ask nutrimat for tea
The Nutrimat makes an instant but highly detailed examination of
your taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of your metabolism and
sends tiny experimental signals down your neural pathways to see
what you like.
A cupful of Advanced Tea Substitute appears in the dispensing slot.
>kick nutrimat
The Nutrimat says "Share and Enjoy".
-or-
The Nutrimat says "If you have enjoyed the experience of this drink,
why not share it with your friends?"
>Nutrimat, why am I here?
The Nutrimat says "Nutrition and pleasurable sense data."
>examine Advanced Tea Substitute
About the only characteristic it shares with tea is that of Brownian motion.
>examine service panel
The service panel is removable.
>remove service panel
Behind the service panel is a circuit board with a number of
dip switches, marked
1 - Cholesterol Register,
2 - MSG Specifier
3 - Thiamin Stack
4 - Piquant-O-mat
3 - Flavour Bump
6 - Vitamin Interrupts
7 - Nose Sequencer
8 - Bouquet Arbitration Bus.
Page 2
r*
All the switches are on.
>switch (any of them)
Switched. Some lights on the Nutrimat flash briefly. A hum starts
promisingly, but quickly dies away again.
>remove circuit board
T aken.
>examine circuit board
It has a number of microchips, some printed circuitry and a message
engraved in microscopic letters.
>switch (anything) then replace circuit board in Nutrimat
An enterprising effort. Some lights on the Nutrimat flash briefly. A
promising hum starts but quickly dies away again.
>read message
It is too small for you to read.
>read message with [HAVEN'T DECIDED WHAT YET]
The message reads "This is merely a satirical device. It has no
practical function."
>break circuit board
It's all the device deserves. It shatters with a satisfying crack.
[INCREASE SCORE]
Page 3
Misten to dark
You hear the deep and distant roar of a star drive conning from far
beneath your feet. There is an exit to the north and another to the east.
>East
You can't go that way.
>East
You can't go that way.
>East
You can't go that way. We were lying about the exit to the east.
>North
You emerge from a small doorway. Spread before you is, astonishingly
enough, the War Chamber of a star battle cruiser. Through the domed
canopy of the ship you can see the rest of a vast and horribly
bev/eaponed fleet flying in formation around and behind you through
the black, glittering emptiness of space. Ahead of you in the darkness
is a star system towards which you are hurtling at a terrifying speed.
Standing near you are two creatures who are gazing at the star with
terrible hatred in their eyes. One is wearing black jewelled battle
shorts, and the other is wreathed in green sweet-smelling steam. They
are talking to each other.
>Examine Vl'Hurg.
. The Vl'Hurg leader looks very typically Vl'Hurgish.
>Examine G'Gugvunt
The G'Gugvunt leader is looking typically G 'Gugvuntish.
[The point of this is - is it worth putting in a little problem
which will reguire your remembering which one is which?]
,>Listen
"Hated planet!" snarls the Vl'Hurg.
"Home of he who dared to say '< >'!" rasps the G'Gugvunt.
"Detested words! Even now it sticks my soul to hear them uttered,"
barks the Vl'Hurg, "even though ten thousand years have passed..."
"And as many senseless megadeaths! Worlds destroyed! My race and
yours laid waste!"
"And for what?"
"The ghastly, unthinkable chances of fate! That we should hear he
who dared shape the words '< >'."
"Torture to my Vl'Hurgish warrior heart to hear it spoken! Yet, even
now, the hot breath of our vengeance blows hard upon this little world..."
"Vengeance on him who said '< > '" 1
"Yes, there's no need to keep repeating it," growls the Vl'Hurg.
"One happy thought" adds the G'Gugvunt "is this. After millenia of
bloody and perpetual conflict, our races have been brought together
by this Quest for the Source of the Offending Remark. And perhaps,
our guest completed, and vengeance exacted on him who said '< >'..."
Page 4
"Will you stop saying it?"
"Perhaps we will be able to continue to live together in peace and
harmony, and..."
"We will talk about that AFTER we ... who's this?"
The two creatures turn and stare at you. The battle fleet is
hurtling towards the star.
>examine star
It is a small, unregarded yellow sun.
>examine star system
It consists of nine planets of varying sizes orbitting a small, unregarded
yellow sun. The third planet catches your attention.
>examine third planet
It is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet, of the sort where
they probably still wear digital watches.
IF YOU SAY ANYTHING AT ALL, OR GIVE ANY INSTRUCTION THAT
WOULD INVOLVE YOUR CHARACTER SPEAKING, THEN THIS HAPPENS:
Incredibly enough, not satisfied with having already delivered
the worst insult in the Vl'Hurg tongue from several million light
distance, you have now said '<?>', which is an even worse insult
in the G'Gugvunt tongue than '< >' was in the Vl'Hurg tongue.
You are clearly the worst diplomat that ever lived. Not satisfied
with having already delivered the most terrible possible to a
Vl'Hurg you have now said '<?>', which is an even worse insult in
the G'Gugvunt tongue than '< >' was in the Vl'Hurg tongue.
Ignore the penultimate paragraph - just an earlier version of the
last one.
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You are the Galley area o-f the Heart of Gold.
This contains a machine which is the State of the Art in
Nutr i t i onal Technol ogy , a Si r i us Cybernet i cs Cor por at i on
Nutr i mat »
It is a large white machine with a touch-sensitive pad, a
d i sp en s i n g si ot. an d a ser vice p an e 1 .
> touch pad
■$ The Nutrimat makes an instant but highly detailed
examination of your taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of your
met ab o 1 i sm an d sen d s t i n y ex p er i men t a 1 signals d own your n eur a 1
pathways to see what you like.
A cupful of Advanced Tea Substitute appears in the
dispensing slot.
>take cup
$■ Taken
>d r i n k tea sub st i t ut e .
■$ It tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. It's
absolutely disgusting. The Nutrimat says "Share and Enjoy".
> a s k n u t r i mat for - t e a
$ T h e N u t r i m a t m a k e s an i n s t a n t b u t h i g h 1 y detai 1 e d
examination of your taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of your
metabolism and sends tiny experimental signals down your neural
p a t h ways to see wh a t y o u 1 ike.
A cupful of Advanced Tea Substitute appears in the
d i sp en s i n g s lot.
>ask nutrimat for real tea (or proper tea, or genuine tea)
$ The Nutrimat says "Share and Elnjoy" and produces another cup
of Ad van c ed Tea Sub st i t ut e .
>ask nutrimat for real tea (or proper tea, or genuine tea) (second
time )
$■ The Nutrimat says "This drink was individually tailored to
meet your personal requirements for nutrition and pleasure," and
p r o d u c e s a n o t h e r c u p o f A d v a n c e d T e a S u bst i tut e .
>kick nutrimat
$ The Nutrimat says "Share and Enjoy".
/OR/
The Nutrimat says "If you have enjoyed the experience of
this drink, why not share it with your friends?"
1
Cl 4ft
> N u t r i m at, w h y a m I h ere?
# The Nu.tr i mat says "Nutrition and pleasurable sense data"
> e k amine A d v a n c e d T e a S u b s t i t u t e
About the only characteristic it shares with tea is that of
Br own i an mot i on .
> e y, a m i n e s e r vice p ax n e 1
$ The service panel is removable
> r e m o v e servi c e p a n e 1
Behind the service panel is a circuit board with a number of
i p sw i t ches, mar k ed
1 Ch o 1 est er o 1 Register,
2 MSG Spec i f i er
3 T h i a m i n S t a c k
4 P i q u a n t - 0 - m a t
5 F 1 a v o u r D u m p
6 Nose Sequencer
7 Vi t am in In t er r up t s
8 Bouquet Arbitration Bus.
All the switches are on.
>sw itch ( an y of t h em )
$ Switched. Some lights on the Nutrimat flash briefly. A hum
starts promisingly, but quickly dies away again.
>r emo ve c i r c u i t b oaxr cl
T taken
> e k ax m i n e circ u i t b o a r d
$ It has ax number of microchips, some printed circuitry axncl a
message en g r a ved i n m i c r oscop i c 1 e 1 1 er s .
> s w i t c hi < a n y t h i n g ) t h e n r e p 1 a c e c i r c u it boa r d i n N u t r i m a t
$ An enterprising effort. Some lights on the Nutrimat flash
briefly. A promising hum starts but quickly dies away again.
> read mess a g e
T-
>read
■$
it is too small for you to read
message with C HAVEN'T DECIDED WHAT YET 3
The message reads "This is merely a satirical
devi ce .
It
If
has no practical -function.
>b rea k circuit b oar d
$ It's all the device deserves. It. shatters with a satisfying
c r ac k . C I NCREASE SCORE J
AFTER YOU'VE BROKEN THE CIRCUIT BOARD:
>ask Nut ri mat for tea (or touch panel)
T The Nutrimat produces another cup of Advanced Tea Substitute
and says "Share and Enjoy" in a rather aggrieved manner.
>ask Nutrimat for real tea (or genuine tea, or proper tea)
T The Nutrimat asks you what you're talking about, and you
take the opportunity to tell it all about India, China, Ceylon,
broad leaves drying in the sun, summer afternoons and silver tea
pots.
The Nutrimat says you've got to be joking.
>ask Nutrimat for real tea Cor how about "INSIST" if there are
other places we can use it. 3
$ The Nutrimat expresses its astonishment that you should want
to drink something which results from putting boiling water on
dead leaves and squirting stuff from a cow in it and says it will
need some help just dealing with the concepts involved.
1 1 st ar t s t o wh i r r .
A red panel lights up saying
MEMORY OVERLOAD
A second panel lights up saying
RESERVE MEMORY ACCESSED
A third one says
PROCESSOR OVERLOAD - SWITCH TO TERMINAL MODE
A panel on the wall lights up, saying
NUTRIMAT GOING ON LINE
More and more panels light ups
CENTRAL COMPUTER ACCESSED
MAIN MEMORY OVERLOAD
FIRST RESERVE MEMORY ACCESSED
PARALLEL PROCESSORS ON LINE
SECOND RESERVE MEMORY ACCESSED
c c 2 j c c h c ( a c ) o i: c i m -- c r; 5m
C £6
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i: C m
1 qqqqqk
A C£3xWAIT ! x
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mqqqqq j
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m q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q j
There doesn't seem to be a lot happening here. Distant sounds of
alarm are carried on the air.
>go to corridor (or whatever direction it is we've decided on)
$ The sounds of alarm are louder. There is a shout of anger
and a n o t h e r o f p a n i c .
> g o ( a nyw h e r e o t h e r t h a n t o t h e B r i d g e )
$ F r o m h e r e t h e sounds of panic a n d a 1 a r m a r e m o r e muted , b u t
no 1 e s s i n s i s t e n t .
IF YOU DON'T GO TO THE BRIDGE AT ALL, OR START TO TAKE THE SPARE
DRIVE TO THE BRIDGE, THEN AFTER SIX MOVES, THIS
HAPPENS ::
$ It seems to have escaped your notice that something serious
is afoot, despite the sounds of panic, shouts of alarm, which we
have been trying to point out to you.
For your information, while your mind has been other things,
a nuclear missile attack has been launched on the Heart Of Gold.
The missiles in fact hit the ship about 3 nanoseconds ago. You
will shortly (and wee mean shortly) be engulfed in a huge atomic
fireball, and therefore there is little more to say at this point
ot h er t h an g oodby e .
4
Hitch Hifcgr'g Ggide/Iafocom Game/ lane 15, 19M
9:20 PH
PsJfJ.
You control Dark by using the spare drive with real tea rather
than Advanced Tea Substitute.
There are as many cups of ATS as you want, though only one at a
time. If you ask for another it simply says "You haven't drunk the
nutritious and flavour -enhanced cupful I already gave you.
There must be a second opportunity for choice to distinguish
between the two exits associated with each sense in dark. You will have
to notice the subtle variation in wording. This only applies to Drive with
Tea, not. ATS.
If you return to the Vogon hold a second time you are instantly
set upon and killed by Vogon guards.
If you go to Damogran and don "t manage to pilot the speedboat
then the boat crashes and returns you to Dark.
If you return to Damogran a/tor stealing the Heart of Gold, then
the guards seize you and, in an unconstitutional departure from protocol,
hurl you over the cliff.
The actual point of the Damogran sequence is to transfer the fluff
from the speedboat to the HoG.
There may also be a toolbox under the dashboard of the
speedboat. In which case, Zaphod is going to have to have some way of
concealing the too he takes about his person. He would look very odd
going to give a Presidential address brandishing a photon -assisted
monkey wrench.
Marvin
Marvin crosses your path from time to time making negative and
depressing comments, but will not respond to commands. If you follow
him then he goes into Marvin's pantry where you are unable to follow
him. You have to prove to his door (which is very uppity) that you have
some basic level of intelligence before you are allowed to enter. "Show
me something you've done that's the slightest bit intelligent." is the sort
of remark we would get from the door. You will have to show the door
the Tea and No Tea.
The door will then open for you. You can enter Marvin's pantry.
If you enter before you have scored enough happiness points, then you
Hitch Hiker *g Gaide/Ittfocom Game/ Tnae 15, 1984
9:20 PH
Page 2
will suffer a fatal blast of depression and, sadly, the game will be over for
you at tliat point.
If you have enough points then you can ask Marvin to help you
with opening the airlock door. He says have you got the tools. If you ask
him which tools he is very scornful and wonders how you managed to get
into the pantry if you are so primordially benighted that you don't even
know w T hich tools are needed for the job.
There are about six tools to choose from dotted around the game -
mostly in the HoG.
When you go with Marvin to the maintenance room, which is very
small, you can only take two tools in with you. Marvin works away and
then asks you for one tool and another. This is on a random routine - he
will ask for different tools each time. If you don't have the tools when he
asks for them then the door cannot be opened. You are stuck inside the
ship till the air runs out.
The only way you can know which tools Marvin will need is to
have collectedthe four pieces of fluff, which are the seeds of a tree
thought to be extinct, - the Tree of Foreknowledge. It bears one fruit,
which, if eaten, vouchasafes the eater a single glimpse into the future.
This will tell you which tools Marvin asks you for.
Tea/No Tea Dilemma.
If you try and pick up tea when you are holding Wo Tea (or vice
versa) then the game will respond that "Your common sense tells you that
you can't do that."
One of the exits; from dark sends you into your own brain. If you
are normal size at the time then there is a very nasty explosion of flesh
and bone around you, and you are dazed to discover yourself standing in
what appears, horribly enough, to be your own corpse. You have to option
of quitting the game cleanly now, rather than suffer the results of this
ghastly error yourself in a short while.
If you take that exit after you have come back from the Vl'Hurg
and G'Gugvunt. ship, and are therefore two microns tall, then you find
yourself in a spongy gray maze of twisty little synpses, all alike. In this
maze you will find one pair of synapses blocked by a large obstacle
marked Common Sense. If you remove this, the synapse fires
properly, you experience a rush of mental freedom and are somersaulted
Hitch Hiker 'g Ggide/Iftfocom Game/ lime 15, 1984
9:20 PH
in a blinding explosion back into Dark. (On re-emergence from Dark on
this occasion you will be back to proper size).
If you emerge from Dark without doing this you will be two
microns tall. You will be in a very strange shaped and huge room, which
you don't recognise, though it smells familiar. You are standing on the
edge of a huge wide plain. If you go in any direction, the Game says that
you march in that direction for five hours, but don't seem to have made a
lot of headway. Eventually you get trodden on a by an ant.
After you have removed Common Sense from your brain you
are able to hold Tea and No Tea simultaneously.
Part y
You are Trillian. There are three rooms at the party. You are
carrying a glass of white wine, a plate of hors d'ouevres, and a handbag.
There is a particular guy who looks very very attractive, if a little weird.
He has a slightly other worldly look on his face, and appears to think that
this is a fancy dress party or something because he has what appears to
be a large birdcage on his shoulder with a black drape over it. The bird
inside must be asleep on account of the fact that you can hear the sound
of snoring coming from inside. His name apparently is Phil and no one
knows who invited him.
There is also a nice man called Arthur Dent, who, though well
meaning, you find a bit of a bore. He comes up to you and says hello,
then seems a little shy and embarrassed and stuck for anything else to
say. He has a large ball of fluff on his jacket, which, to your surprise, you
find very irritating.
If you say anything to Arthur...
"Arthur seems to find your tone a little cool, smiles unhappily, and
wanders off."
Arthur 'will keep returning and say "hello again" and then be stuck
for anything to say again.
If you try to follow Phil, he always moves to the next room.
If you take the fluff from Arthur's jacket, the game says that, as
so often at parties, you find you are holding too much and can't take
anything else. So, you have to drop one of the items you are carrying.
Hitch Hifcer'g Ggide/Imfocom. Game/ Tbm 1 5. 1984
9:20 PH
Pag e 4
When you take the piece of fluff off Arthur's jacket his
appearance is much improved. He is clearly touched by this friendly
move and starts to chat away to you happily. He is really rather a nice
man, you decide. However, at that moment Phil comes up, grips your
shoulder, says "Hey babe, is this guy boring you? Why don't you come
and talk to me instead. I'm from a different planet." He is very strange
and attractive. You smile at Arthur. You follow Phil. The hostess, a
very boring lady who you've been trying to avoid all evening comes up to
you and says, "Oh hello, Tricia, how lovely to see you, is this
yours?" /whatever it was you dropped to tape ArtJnir 's fluff l
This is the crucial point at which you either drop the fluff or put it
in your bag.
Assuming you take whatever it is, the hostess then moves away,
you follow Phil outside, and every tiling goes swirnmy and Dark.
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Car
( \nr\C^-S lie A mcivxu aO
The widest seat in the air.
British Airways’ Super Club business
class has seats so wide, you almost
have to create novel ways to get them
on the plane!
What’s more, there are only six of
them across, so you’ll always sit next
to a window or an aisle. And, of
course, there’s always our renowned
British efficiency and impeccable
service. Plus, you can count your
flight miles toward your American
AAdvantage®travel award plan. No
wonder that British Airways is the
world’s favourite airline.
Call your travel agent or
corporate travel department. The World’s Favourite Airline’
airways
© 1984 British Airways
The rotors in the RX-7's rotary engine spin
constantly in one direction instead of moving up
and down like pistons. At high rpm it uses less
energy fighting friction than a conventional
reciprocating engine. This means that the rotary
engine is smoother and more powerful for its
size-the ideal power plant for a sports car.
Standard features include
5-speed overdrive transmission
• Steel-belted radial tires • Power-
assisted ventilated front disc
brakes • Front and rear stabilizer
bars • Retractable headlamps
• Full cut-pile carpeting • Driver's
seat lumbar support adjuster
• Electric rear window defroster
• 2-speed wipers/washer plus
intermittent
29
EST.
HWY.
MPG
19 mpg* feature
Tinted glass
• Tachometer • Trip odometer
• Dual door mirrors • Lockable,
lighted rear stowaway lockers
• Quartz digital clock
• Side window demisters.
Experienced drivers buckle up.
1984 Mazda RX-7S
*10,195’
To get your free copy of our 22-page ,
full-color catalog showing the
whole Mazda RX-7 line, write to:
Mazda RX-7 Offer
Box 5960
Orange, CA 92668
'EPA estimates for comparison. Your mileage may vary with
trip length, speed and weather. Highway mileage will probably
be less. * 'Manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Actual price
set by dealer. Taxes, license, freight, options (tires/al. wheels
shown) and other dealer charges extra. Price may change
without notice. Availability of vehicles with specific features
may vary. Mazda’s rotary engine licensed by NSU-WANKEL.
tPercentage of original suggested retail price currently
retained according to Kelley Blue Book, Jan.-Feb. 1984.
THE MORE YOU LOOK,
THE MORE YOU LIKE.
X
lx>0 _
RerRe me latent UST/kGS. 3:
CoH^/^e^ LA^T M/Gffr Z »T wAS oweR
Ttte srZJE UNIT, So x CAPPED AT
SoM€ T H/at&S X c&Mp/ce^k A^WaJ x /pub
THg Cu^e^r pistes A&€~:
fit- LoclA'. ||Z byAes
PosV — LoclA* b^-hes
; XTL N€^ AT ^-GrAST
TWAT Mu<T %fAOc foR fyoG- Pon^^>
^M-^p_ TVfe Ct>Nuio& ooeeyl^ so Voo
s>\\ool^ noo^ 'Terr- im(^
As A QK SALLCHVM.^ *
Si
■ .1
.... ■-
I
THE THING YOUR ROOMMATE GAVE YOU
WHICH YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS
5/2/84
#
Tom V:
"Something to do with fish. ..with the cleaning or preparing
of fish."
Hollywood:
"What are you doing with a cheese stringer?"
Betsy:
(bitchily, of course) "It's a cheese shredder."
Jon:
"Uh, something to make sushi with? To open clams with?
Cut the edges off, uh..." (trails off)
Linda A:
"Is it for drugs or sumthin'?"
Debbie:
"It's a pasta-maker. A mini-pasta maker."
Tom V:
(returning) "I've changed my mind. It's a carpentry tool.
Why else would it have this little house on it 7 "
Jerry:
"I wouldn't even care to guess."
Marc:
"For scraping stickers off your car? Oh, I didn't see the
holes. It hooks onto something and becomes the handle."
/
Albert:
"Some kind of kitchen utensil but it beats the hell out
•
of me what."
Dan:
"Is this a butter curler?"
' Stu:
(deliberately) "I think it's designed to cut food into
ribbons..." (less deliberately) "...in fact, you could
cut anything into ribbons!"
Mike Q:
(after hearing about horrible Sorcerer bug) "Is it sharp
enough to slit my wrists? It's obviously for grapefruit.
Or an ice something."
Bruce:
"Is this for sculpting clay?" (later) "It's a wire-stripper
for special five-conductor cable."
IwJas
VJ^OVv Lqac\\VO, L ° c ' rc ' S
l'Q4Y\o w . 1 '
. You'll have to d e mors specific, I'm afraid
>F IND ONE 6 = D
You'll have to be more specific*. I'm afraid
>F I NO MY SfcO
You'll have to be more sceci^ic, I'm afraid
>F IND ANY BED
I don
't
know
the word
“ary “
> F I N D
A
SOFT ,
cczy sec
WITH
I don
' t
know
the word
“soft
ZTeMrotFeR
p(ckV| I A_(V
UlTCHWlHeR-^
>RESTCRE
Vv
From file: BROWNIAN. Rill. 10 k.
>1
You have:
no tea
a sales brochure
your gown (being worn)
It is of course well known that careless talk costs lives* but the full scale o
the problem is not always appreciated. Per instance, at the exact moment you
Said “set switches for tea substitue" s f reek wormhole opened in the fabric of
the space-tire continuum and csrriec your words far far back in time across
almost infinite reaches of space to a distant galaxy where strange and warlike
beings were poised on the brink cf frightful interstellar battle.
The two opposing leaders were meeting for the last time. A dreadful silence fel
across the conference table as the commander of the Vl'Hurgs* resplendent in hi
black jewelled oat tie shorts, gazed lev ally at the G'Gugvunt leader squsttinc
opposite him in a cloud of g-eer, sweet-smelling steam. As a million sleek and
horribly beuieaooned star cruisers poised t c unleash electric death at his sing!
wore cf command, the V 1 'burg challenged his vile enemy to take back what it had
saic about his mother.
The creature stirred in its sickly broiling vapour, and at that v e r y moment the
words “set switches fen tea substitue” drifted across tne conference table.
Unfortunately, i n the Vi'hurc tongue this was 'the most dreadful insult
r'-
imaginable* and there was nothing for it but to wage terrible war fc-r centuries
Eventually the error was detectec, out over two hurcred and fifty thousand
worlds, their peoples and cultures perished in the holocaust.
You have destroyed most c f a s^sli galaxy. Please pick your words with greater
care.
> L
Bridge
This is the bridge of the Heart cf Geld. A gangway leads downward, and
s team
ll-Sep-84 23:58:10 — EOT , 1131; OOOOOGOOOOOi
Mail-From: $ E w creates at ll-Sep-84 23:53:10
Date: 11 Sep 1984 2352-EDT
From: Steve Meretzky < S EM at Z 0 R K >
Subject: HITCHHIKERS
To: TESTERS at ZORK
❖ ❖ ❖ * $ DON'T P 4 N I C $ * * * ❖
The freeze is on. Version (naturally) 42 is ready anc waiting * c r you to do
your worst. I've wearing my + o w e 1 and my peril-sensitive sunglasses and my
Dags are packed for Nantucket and just give me the word and I'll press
tne green button and tatter transfer to any passing Cape Island.
Version 2 is an incredible 394 bytes unoer the TI99 limit? the Scommands
must have taken up at least five huncred bytes.
Jeff, the last batch of bugs are in your box (as well as some cryptic notes
I removed from your desk late last night). In addition to these, here are
some suggestions for areas of fertile beating: referring to TEA, returnino
to scenes multiple times, various uses of IN PRINT 0 F , saying PUT ALL IN
various containers, arb various types of orphaning (WHICH BUTTON DO YOU
MEAN . . . ? )
RESTORE after death crashes, but I think this is a bug in the new Z I p 2 0 .
Well, sc long, and thanks for all the
hues.
I 3 -Sep- 3 4 13:2722*-EDT,4C5;00C0CC000001
Date: 13 Sep 1 9 8 4 1327- E CT
From: Jerry W o 1 p e r < J W a ^ Z G R K >
Subject: Remaining jnfixeb
To: s e m
The orly fix I didn't do was the multiple orchar esse. (If orly me h = c
week,..) I was pleasantly astonished to find that:
>UNL0CK BOX * I T h KEY
Which cox do you mean, tre toolbox on the carton?
>TCDLBDX
noio morks without my explicitly fixing it!
-Not A 1 diver's agent
13- Sep- 6 4 14 : 13 : 0 0 - 6 0 T , 5 4 £ : 0 0 G 0 0 0 0 0 0 C 0 1
Mail — From : S E M created at 13 - Sep - 84 14 : 09:39
Date: 13 Sep 19 3 4 1409- ECT
From: Steve Meretzky <SE V at Z D R K >
Subject: 45
To: TESTERS at ZDRK
hear, on ye sinners:
Version
before the eyes
pilgrimage unto
45 is waiting to be blessed. Let all who have sirred
of God cleans* themselves of their evil by making a
the gsm e arc seeing it's pristine o u r i t y •
is the
was 4 2
we have received another sign from on high that this
chosen one; I cared upon the file size and lc, beheld
bytes under the limit.
version
that it
1 3 - S e p - 3 4 1 6 : 2 0 : 5 7 - E D T , 3 8 1 J 0 0 C 0 C C 0 0 0 0 0 1
Date! 13 Sep 1984 1620- EOT
= rom: Marc blank < 5 L A N K at Z C R K >
Subject: Re: 45
To: S E M
In - Reply - To: Your message of 13-Ser-Sw. 1409 - ECT
Wondrous odd that the number
of the code is the answer to
tnis thy code and let it not
c * bytes remaining after the blessing
the ultimate Question! C h Lord, oless
fall victim to the scourge of bugginess.
another
14-Sep-84 17:34:0C~EDT»437; 000000000001
M 3il-Froi’: S E V crestec =1 l4-5ep-34 17:31
Dote: 14 Sep 1
^ r o m : Steve Me
Subject: HITCH
To: TEST 8 R S st
e t
1731-ECT
ky < S E M at
Z n p k
Z 0 R K >
2 6
V ersion 43 is done .
would you like the Cues behind Version £46* or the cues behind Version
or the bugs be hire 'Version w 4 g ?
Or, jjcuid you like to trsde =11 the bugs you've non for the curtcin t h
beautiful Albert Vezze is pointing to?
See y'ail Wednesday.
l4-Sep-s4 17 :57!44-EDT ,221 5 OCOOOCOOCOOl
Gate: 14 Sep 1984 1 7 5 7 - E C T
From: M a r c f ■ 1 s n k < 3 L A N K st Z 0 R K >
Subject: Re: HITCH
To: S E M
In-Reply-To: Your message
of 14-Sec- 8 4 1731-SOT
I suggest that you see ~r eye doctor on your vacation
-marc
l4-$ep-S4 16:57: 15-5DT ,293; Q0C0CC 000031
Date: 14 Sep 1984 1S57-EDT
From: jerry Wo 1 per <Jw at 1 0 3 K >
Subject: Re: HITCH
To: 3 E M
In-Reply-To: Your message of 14-Sep-84 1731-EDT
Wednesday?!?? And THEN running tc Production??!? Oh, ui e 1 1 . I suppose i
wrote at anything as buc-riccen as Hitchhiker's* I'd run a uj s y too.
14- Sep -8^. 19:3l:54-EDT,245;0O0C0C00OO01
Date: 14 Sep 1984 1931-ECT
From: Jerry w olper <JW at Z 0 R K >
Subject: V . 48
To: DA, J E F
S E M
I got as far as cceniro 4 h e screening door before I forgot to drirk th
I hao eaten the fruit. This is, presumably, good news. - J W
16 -Sep-84 01:24:47-£DT,183;COOOOC000001
Date: 16 ^ep 1 9 b 4 0124 — cCT
From: Michael Dornbrook <MD at Z D R K >
Subject: HITCn
To: S c M
"THROW IN TOWEL" D“'ES A SUIT TO TCPS-20 WITHOUT GIVING SCORE,
W 4 7
a t
f I
e t e
FTC .
MIKE
‘Wft s~
-Simple, but interesting. 1 discovered Stu's $db command, revealing a little
of the parsing process. Don't take it out. M2
-Suspect- the game is absorbing even though the parser can be frustrating.
When I bimp into Smythe, I would like to say "sorry." M3
-Suspect is very engrossing. Little hard to map, but that's expected. Takes
alot of time between turns. Other than that, all your games are an A+. M3
-Your package speaks for itself. Quality inside and out. There is no doubt
that you are the leader in this software gendre. However, including a twinkie
in each package might be nice. • M3
-I see a few other companies are trying to outdo you. Never! They can
have their ’intelligent' parser, they still don't know how to write! Keep
up the great work! M3
-I played a BASIC text adventure, and liked it. Then I bought an Infocom
and was overwhelmed. You can really communicate! M3
-It is much to your credit. The stories alone are worth it, but you've invested
into packagings and a smile becomes a laugh. A2
-What happens when I wear out this disc playing the game? A2
-It is a very hard, mind-boggling, fantastic game. If people can solve this
game without the hintbook, they must have a very high I.Q. A3
-Don't include so much funny stuff! Also, do you make any 'serious' games? S3
-Planetfall and Deadline mark a new era in computer games: one in which
thinking is more important than zapping, killing, and rapidly pressing buttons. S3, Ml
-I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's a flop. S4
-Aggravating. I wish the author would visit and show us if it has any redeeming
features. S4
-Responds well to questions no matter how stupid or irrelevent. S4
-The packaging is better than a pair of dingo's kidneys. S4
-I really don’t appreciate a game that becomes impossible after five to
ten hours of play. Now I guess I have to buy your accursed hintbook. Great
planning you bastards. S4
-Three microscopic battle cruisers were missing from the microscopic
space fleet. (Rip-off.) S4
-Great packaging, interesting items, but the game makes my brain hurt
(nice!!) S4
-Doug Adams is God! S4
-I like it too much , it’s hard to stay awake the next day. S4
-Text is excellent and very funny. However, we got stuck real fast and
have been unable to get past a certain point for days - and there's four
of us playing! (All with high I.Q.'s) This leads me to believe these things
are still written for hardcore nerds and not for the rest of us. Put more
hints into the game. S4
K KMs 111^: KBH#
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Avenue, Boston, MA 02134. (617) 492-2777. We
welcome your comments. Thank you for listening.
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ihrS | a oils <^oo A.
The September -October 1983 issue o f So f 1 1 i ne featured &
unique cover - three paragraphs from Infocoir.'s interactive
fiction game Planet fall. The paragraphs described a
particularly sensitive part of the game and ended -'with the
reviewer’s comment that "Your friend is gene and you're
alone... You don’t feel like that very often. Maybe after you
read Charlotte’s Web. Maybe when they shot Bambi's
mother... But this scene is from a computer came. A game!"
Steve Meretzky, the author of Planet fall, is accustomed
to such praise. Since FI anet fall ’ s release in September
1963/ it has been highly acclaimed as a product both humorous
and humane/ winning numerous awards for both the game and the
designer. Keretzkv ' £ second In foe or, release , Sorcerer ,
r or cte;
■oftel k reviewer tc comment , "Keep it
:p» Steve,
6 n c
we'll be lo
o k i n g
for
interactive
f i c t i
Interactive fiction is a new genre of literature that
was refined for widespread software distribution by Infocom.
Sophisticated programming techniques allow Infocom users to
influence the course of a story by communication with their
computers in complex, conversational English.
Writing interactive fiction was evidently a good career
change for Meretzky, who earned a degree in Construction
Project Management from M.I.T. After graduation, he took
three successive jobs in his field. None of them provided
the satisfaction he’d anticipated.
In mid -1981, he was out of work and spending a lot of
time around the apartirient he shared with Michael Dornbrook,
now Infocon's Product Manager for Entertainment Software. At
the time, Dornbrook was testing Zork 3 and Zork II for
Infocon. Meretzky began to play the games, reporting bugs
when he found them. He did such a good job that when
Dornbrook left the area to attend business school and
Infccom's Marc Blank needed someone to test De a d 1 i n e , he
thought of Meretzky.
By June 1982, Steve Meretzky was working half-time as a
carrie tester at Infocon. He began to work on Planet fa 11 ,
spending less time testing and more time writing. In October
1982, he began full-time work as an Infocon game writer.
c r-
Planetfall w
Planet fa 1
release
1 1
ept ember 1985.
has been cite
^ C b:
t Adventure Game of
‘83" by InfoWorlc and "Best All -Text Game of the Year" by
Computer Games Magazine. It was chosen as one of the ten
most popular programs of 19E3 by St . Game Magazine reader's
poll and deemed "a text came extraordinaire" by Video Review
Magazine, who gave Meretzky a ViRA award for "Best Software
Designer of 1983. "
At the Summer 1984 Consumer Electronics Show (CES),
Planet fall was voted one of the most original software
programs for 1983—84. The CES Software Showcase experts
cited Meretzky for "innovativeness of concept, technical
superiority, and product uniqueness."
Reviewers find the same qualities evident in Sorcerer ,
released in March 1 984 . Fifth in Infocomi's fantasy series.
* "aWC-fcl Mn'"*
■>* ; a jj*r..
^ w— . •-
Sorcerer provides the player with iriagic spells which are put
to use in the search for a missing necromancer. The search
leads through a variety of fantastic locations, from a
honky-tonk amusement park to the labyrinthian passages of a
glass palace .
Steve Meretzky's most recent accomplishment is an
interactive fiction version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy, written in collaboration with Douglas Adams, author
of the best-selling novel. The Hitchhiker's Guide, a
hilarious journey through the universe in the company of a
motley troupe of Earthlings, aliens and robots, will be
released in November 19 £4.
DON’T PANIC!
YOU CAN NOW TAKE A GUIDED TOUR OF THE GALAXY
s /
\
CAMBRIDGE, MA (August, 1964) -- Are you tired of
travelling haphazardly around the galaxy, never knowing what
to expect from each new planet? Are you frustrated by the
lack of information on intergalact ic culture? Do you still
find it difficult to decipher alien languages?
Relax. Kelp is on the way, with The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy, Infocom's newest work of interactive fiction.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams, creator of the best-selling
Meretzky, award-winning designer of Infocom
was a u t ho r e d by
novel, and Steve
's Planet fa 11 (tm)
0
and Sorcerer(tm). Adams, a long-time fan of In focom ' s
interactive fiction, contacted Infocom with the idea of
writing a game based on Hitchhiker's Guide . Keretz k y ,
experienced in the writing of a humorous science fiction
game, was chosen to work with him.
The delightful result puts you into the role of Arthur
Dent, a hapless Earthling. You awake one morning to find
your house in the path of bulldozers clearing the way for a
new highway. Unbeknownst to you, there are larger destruct
plans brewing - those for the demolition of the entire
planet. But your friend Ford Prefect, who (also unknown to
you) happens to be from the planet Betelgeuse on the far side
of the galaxy, has a means of escape in the form of an
&c\ogAy^
c\ps£-
Electronic Thumb. With the Electronic Thumb, you and Ford
can hitchhike a ride on any passing spaceship. And that's
just what you do.
Up to this point, the story line of the game is similar
to that of the book. But once aboard the Vogon flagship, the
first stop on your interplanetary adventures, you'll find the
characters and locations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy appearing in a variety of misadventures written by
^ X> c o oA a£
y^Doug A.dams expressly for the came. And, as in all Infocom
games, you'll be part of every twist and turn in the plot.
Luckily, you'll have your Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy along with you. Readers of the book will recall that
the Hitchhiker's Guide is an electronic devise somewhat
s i mi 1 1 a r in appearance to
large calculator. It has
hundred tiny press buttons and a four -inch screen on which
any one of a million "pages'' can be summoned at a moment's
notice. The guide supplies information on every conceivable
(or inconceivable) person, place and thing in the galaxy.
Infocom's interactive version of The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy includes a computerized version of this amazing
guidebook. The information in the guide is contained on the
game disk, and you can summon any one of its dozens of
entries right onto your computer screen.
The game packaging provides you with a number of other
items no self-respecting hitchhiker would be without. A pair
of per i 1 -sens i t ive sunglasses warns you of the dangers you’ll
encounter in your travels through the universe. Copies of
the destruct orders for your house and the planet Earth
remind you why you’re out there in the first place. You're
given a piece of fluff and a microscopic space fleet, as well
as the Megadodo Publications sales brochure for the latest
model of the Hitchhiker's Guide. And in case things get out
of hand, there's a Don't Panic button.
Unfortunately, the packaging does not include a cup cf
good English tea. And you'll have to bring your own towel,
an object as necessary to intergalact ic hitchhiking as the
Electronic Thumb .
What is the object of the game? According to Steve
Meretzky: "Stay alive. Don't panic. And have a good time."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxv is the funniest
game yet released from a company known for its wit and humor.
It is also the first Infocom game to be adapted directly from
another medium, with Douglas Adams using Steve Meretzky 's
expertise as well as his own knowledge cf the subject to
*
successfully create an interactive version of his novel.
k, tvKLWxWr
Scheduled for ^6-e- t c b ex 1984 release. The Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy is geared to the Standard Level player
It will retail for 139.95. The game will be distributed to
bookstores through Simon & Schuster, publishers of Douglas
Adams' series of science fiction comedies.
The Hitchhiker's Guide joins Infocom’s line of
best -sel 1 ing science fiction games, which include Suspended,
Mddv'rt*-
vWS iV»i ?
Starcross and Planet fal 1 . In Suspended, you must bring an
endangered planet under control by acting through your crew
of six robots, each of whom provides a different sense or
capability. Starcross offers you the opportunity to board a
gargantuan starship from the outer fringes of t he.- .ga 1 axy .
And in Planetfall, you explore a deserted planet in the
company of goo d -humore d robot.
Aocs "VWs trwfcCkV's
V. n
i ee CK-C.W ,vnk ^ •
LOVll
oA i
|f\<j r<^
L>j6J\'
a
0 v
hS^
C\<\
L |j\avKS aU^>
-k C^c-V tf
- ;
r' i An rv oe I > \ \ v •
inFoconv
infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)492-1031
CONTACT Patricia Maroni
Director of Public Relations
(617) 492-1031
*
Elizabeth Langosy
Staff Writer
DON'T PANIC!
YOU CAN NOW TAKE A GUIDED TOUR OF THE GALAXY
Interactive Fiction Expected to Reach Even Greater Level
of Popularity with November Release of Infocom's
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cambridge, MA (October, 1984) — Are you tired of travelling haphazardly around
the galaxy, never knowing what to expect from each new planet? Are you frustrated
by the lack of information on intergalactic culture? Do you still find it difficult
to decipher alien languages?
Relax. Help is on the way, with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Infocom's
newest work of interactive fiction. Hitchhiker's Guide , scheduled to be on dealer
shelves in November, is geared to the Standard Level player and will retail for
$39.95 (most systems).
The new release is authored by Douglas Adams, creator of the best-selling novel
by the same name, and Steve Meretzky, award-winning designer of Infocom's
Planetfall t m and Sorcerer* ™. The seed for this new title was planted when Adams,
a long-time fan of Infocom's interactive fiction, contacted Infocom with the idea
-more-
- 2 -
of writing a game based on his book. Meretzky, experienced in the writing of a
humorous science fiction game, was chosen to work with him.
*
The delightful result puts you into the role of Arthur Dent, a hapless Earthling.
You awake one morning to find your house in the path of bulldozers clearing the
way for a new highway. Unknown to you, there are larger destruct plans brewing
— those for the demolition of the entire planet. But your friend Ford Prefect,
who (also unknown to you) happens to be from the star Betelgeuse, has a means
of escape in the form of an Electronic Thumb. With the Electronic Thumb, you
and Ford can hitchhike a ride on any passing spaceship. And that's just what you
do.
Up to this point, the story line of the game is similar to that of the book. But
once aboard the Vogon flagship, the first stop on your interplanetary adventures,
you'll find the characters and locations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
appearing in a variety of misadventures written by Douglas Adams expressly for
the game. And, as in all Infocom games, you'll be part of every twist and turn
in the plot.
To aid you in your explorations, you'll have access to the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy. Readers of the book will recall that the Hitchhiker's Guide is an
electronic device somewhat similar in appearance to a large calculator. It has
a hundred tiny press buttons and a four-inch screen on which any one of a million
"pages" can be summoned at a moment's notice.
Infocom's interactive version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy includes
a computerized variation of this amazing guidebook. The information in the guide
is contained on the game disk, and you can summon any one of its dozens of entries
right onto your computer screen.
The game packaging provides you with a number of other items no self-respecting
hitchhiker would be without. A pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses warns you of the
dangers you'll encounter in your travels through the universe. Copies of the destruct
orders for your house and the planet Earth remind you why you're out there in the
first place. You're given a piece of fluff and a microscopic space fleet, as well
as the Megadodo Publications sales brochure for the latest model of the Hitchhiker's
Guide. And in case things get out of hand, there's a Don't Panic button.
So find yourself a cup of good English tea. And you'll have to bring your own
towel, an item as necessary to intergalactic hitchhiking as the Electronic Thumb.
Then settle back for a ride around the galaxy.
What is the object of the game? According to Steve Meretzky: "Stay alive.
Don't panic. And have a good time."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the funniest game yet released from
a company known for its wit and humor. It is also the first Infocom product to
be adapted directly from another medium, with Adams using Meretzky's expertise
as well as his own knowledge of the subject to create an interactive version of
his novel. The game will be distributed to bookstores through Simon & Schuster,
one of the publishers of Douglas Adams' series of science fiction comedies.
-4-
Infocom's sophisticated development tools made it possible for the unique qualities
of Adams' writing to be faithfully translated into a computer program. As in any
work of literature, the personality and talent of the author are evident in each
Infocom product.
The Hitchhiker's Guide joins Infocom's line of best-selling science fiction games,
which include Suspended * 171 , Starcross *™ and Planetfall. In Suspended , you must
bring an endangered planet under control by acting through your crew of six robots,
each of whom provides a different sense or capability. Starcross offers you the
opportunity to board a gargantuan starship from the outer fringes of the galaxy.
And in Planetfall, you explore a deserted planet in the company of a good-humored
robot.
Infocom games are available for the following computers: Apple II series, Atari,
Commodore 64, Commodore Plus 4, CP/M 8", Data General Desktop 10, DEC RT-11,
Epson QX-10, H/P 150 & 110, IBM, Macintosh, Mindset, NEC PC-8000, Osborne,
Tandy Color Computer, Tandy 2000, Texas Instruments Professional, TRS-80 Models
I & II, MS DOS 2.0 and TI 99/4A.
For further information on Infocom's interactive fiction, contact Public Relations
//////
at (617) 492-1031.
inFoconv
Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)492-1031
CONTACT Patricia Maroni
Director of Public Relations
(617) 492-1031
Elizabeth Langosy
Staff Writer
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY*
Douglas Adams/Steve Meretzky Collaboration
A Humorous Addition to
Infocom's Line of Interactive Fiction
Cambridge, MA (November, 1984) -- Don't panic! You, too, can tour the universe!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Infocom's interactive version of Douglas
Adams' best-selling novel, is now available nationwide.
Development of this new title began when Adams, a long-time fan of Infocom's
interactive fiction, contacted the company with the idea of writing a computer
game based on his book. Steve Meretzky, award-winning author of Infocom's science
fiction comedy Planetfall t m , was chosen to work with him.
-more-
- 2 -
%
The delightful result puts you into the role of Arthur Dent, a hapless Earthling.
You awake one morning to find your house in the path of bulldozers clearing the
way for a new highway. Unknown to you, there are larger destruct plans brewing
- those for the demolition of the entire planet. But your friend Ford Prefect, who
(also unknown to you) happens to be from the star Betelgeuse, has a means of escape
in the form of an Electronic Thumb. With the Electronic Thumb, you and Ford
can hitchhike a ride on any passing spaceship. And that's just what you do.
Up to this point, the story line of the game is similar to that of the book. But
once aboard the Vogon flagship, the first stop on your interplanetary adventures,
you'll find the characters and locations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
appearing in a variety of misadventures written by Douglas Adams expressly for
Infocom. And, as in all Infocom stories, you'll be part of every twist and turn in
the plot.
To aid you in your explorations, you'll have access to the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy. Readers of the book will recall that the Hitchhiker's Guide is an
electronic device somewhat similar in appearance to a large calculator. It has
a hundred tiny press buttons and a four-inch screen on which any one of a million
"pages" can be summoned at a moment's notice.
Infocom's interactive version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy includes
a computerized variation of this amazing guidebook. The information in the guide
is contained on the disk, and you can summon any one of its dozens of entries right
onto your computer screen.
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«
- 3 -
The packaging provides you with a number of other items no self-respecting
hitchhiker would be without. A pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses warns you of the
dangers you'll encounter in your travels through the universe. Copies of the destruct
orders for your house and the planet Earth remind you why you're out there in the
first place. You're given a piece of fluff and a microscopic space fleet, as well
as the Megadodo Publications sales brochure for the latest model of the Hitchhiker's
Guide. And in case things get out of hand, there's a Don't Panic button.
So find yourself a cup of good English tea. And you'll have to bring your own
towel, an item as necessary to intergalactic hitchhiking as the Electronic Thumb.
Then settle back for a ride around the galaxy.
What is the object of the game? According to Steve Meretzky: "Stay alive.
Don't panic. And have a good time."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the funniest title yet released from
a company known for its wit and humor. It is also the first Infocom product to
be adapted directly from another medium, with Adams using Meretzky's expertise
as well as his own knowledge of the subject to create an interactive version of
his novel. The game will be distributed to bookstores through Simon & Schuster,
one of the publishers of Douglas Adams' series of science fiction comedies.
Infocom's sophisticated development tools made it possible for the unique qualities
of Adams' writing to be faithfully translated into a computer program. As in any
work of literature, the personality and talent of the author are evident in each
Infocom product.
-more-
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is geared to the Standard Level interactive
fiction fan and will retail for $39.95 ($34.9 5 for Commodore 64, Atari and Color
Computer).
The new title joins Infocom's line of best-selling science fiction stories, which
includes Suspended * 171 , Starcross* 171 and Planetfall. In Suspended , you must bring
an endangered planet under control by acting through your crew of six robots, each
of whom provides a different sense or capability. Starcross offers you the
opportunity to board a gargantuan starship from the outer fringes of the galaxy.
And in Planetfall, you explore a deserted planet in the company of a good-humored
robot.
Infocom products are available for the following computers: Apple II/IIe/IIc,
Apricot, Atari 400/800/XL series, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus 4, Data General
Desktop 10 & Book, Epson QX-10, H/P 150 <5c 110, IBM PC & AT, Macintosh, Mindset,
Osborne, Tandy Color Computer, Tandy 1000 & 2000, Texas Instruments Professional
& 99/4A, TRS-80 Model III, and MS DOS 2.0.
For further information on Infocom's interactive fiction, contact Public Relations
at (617) 492-1031.
###
*Copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams
Copyright 1984 by Infocom
inpocoiR
Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-1031
CONTACT Patricia Maroni
Director of Public Relations
(617) 492-1031
Elizabeth Langosy
Staff Writer
DOUGLAS ADAMS AND STEVE MERETZKY :
A BEST SELLING COMBINATION
Enthusiasm for Science Fiction the Common Bond
that Blends Talents of a Noted Author
and a Top Designer of Interactive Fiction
CAMBRIDGE, MA (November, 1984) The Hitchhiker f s
Guide to the Galaxy *, Infocom's newest interactive fiction title,
has all the key ingredients to make it a sure success among the
huge literary audience that has enjoyed the novels of noted
author Douglas Adams and the award-winning computer games of
Infocom designer Steve Meretzky.
Adams' and Meretzky's top-selling works are both science
fiction comedies. Meretzky has always been an avid reader of
Adams* books. Adams is a long-time fan of Infocom's interactive
fiction. Both creative talents have a keen sense of humor.
It's that blending of talent that paved the way for the
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ADAMS & MERETZKY/2
successful adaptation of Adams* hilarious book, The Hitchhiker*s
Guide to the Galaxy , into a work of interactive fiction. In
interactive fiction, a new form of entertainment refined for
widespread software distribution by Infocom, skilled writers
program a story into a computer. Users assume the role of the
main character in the story, influencing the course of events by
responding to them in the form of conversational English commands
typed into the computer.
John O’Leary, lnfocom*s Director of Marketing for Consumer
Products, explains how it all came about:
"Doug Adams had been a staunch fan of Infocom. He*d spent
about a year exploring ideas for transforming his novel into a
work of interactive fiction. Subsequently, he approached Infocom
with the idea. The quality of his work fit in well with our
high standards. From there, an agreement was reached for
development of the product.
"In February of this year, Doug and Steve got together to
discuss the project. Since Steve was already familiar with
Doug's books as well as with the writing of interactive fiction,
he was able to advise Doug on the translation of the story from
book to computer. Soon after that first meeting, Steve began
programming the material into Infocom's mainframe."
As the project moved forward, telecommunications played a key
role. Adams and Meretzky were able to communicate between
Cambridge, MA and Adams' home in England by means of modems
hooked up to DEC Rainbow computers. Says Meretzky, "Doug would
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ADAMS & MERETZKY/3
write detailed 'chunks* of material and send them by modem. I'd
transcribe the material directly onto a disk in my computer. In
the same way, I would send Doug portions of the game as
programming was completed.
"In June, I traveled to Europe to work with Doug on the
final design. I think the collaboration enhanced our individual
creativity. Doug came up with suggestions for puzzles I never
would have thought of on my own. I ended up exploring new ways
to write interactive fiction based on these suggestions."
Meretzky's skill in computer game writing and programming,
in turn, aided Adams in experimenting further with the far-
ranging capabilities of interactive fiction.
Adds Meretzky, "Doug's personal style and sense of humor are
an important part of the story. Doug actually designed and wrote
more than half the game; the rest was a joint effort, using
Doug's ideas and material and my computer experience.
"Doug has a bizarre sense of humor. At one point, you must
argue with the game. At another point, the story ignores you.
The approach to humor is unlike that of any other Infocom
product . "
The individuality found in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
is characteristic of Infocom's line of interactive fiction. The
company maintains its high standard of quality, while allowing
the unique style of the writer to be fully evident in each story.
And because Infocom's advanced production techniques enable a
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ADAMS & MERETZKY/4
large amount of information to be formatted onto each disk.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy has as many words in its
program as a short novel.
Infocom fans can look forward to future products combining
the company's technological expertise with the individual
abilities of traditional fiction writers.
*
Copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams
Copyright 1984 by Infocom, Inc.
inFoconv
Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)492-1031
CONTACT : Patricia Maroni
Director of Public Relations
(617) 492-1031
INFOCOM f S INTERACTIVE FICTION
LATEST STOP ON ADAMS' HILARIOUS TOUR OF THE GALAXY
Fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy * have had the
opportunity to enjoy Douglas Adams' science fiction comedy in a
variety of mediums. The story has appeared on radio, television
and stage, and in book and record form.
Now, owners of all popular brands of computers can actually
become a part of Hitchhiker's Guide , with the interactive fiction
version from Infocom.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was authored by Adams
and Steve Meretzky, award-winning designer of the company's
TM TM
popular Planetf al 1 and Sorcerer . The hilarious science
fiction game is aimed at the Standard Level player and carries a
suggested retail price of $39.95 ($34.95 for Atari, Commodore 64
and Color Computer) .
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HITCHHIKER/2
The interactive program is the latest (and, in ways, the
rewarding) incarnation of the story which already has spawned a
radio series, a television program, a stage show, a four-volume
"trilogy", two records, a film that is yet to be released and
countless fans both here and abroad, it is the interaction which
makes the computer version so successful.
In Infocom f s Hitchhiker's Guide , you roam the universe in
the role of Arthur Dent, sharing a variety of misadventures with
Betelguesan hitchhiker Ford Prefect, President of the Imperial
Galactic Government Zaphod Beeblebrox, Beeblebrox's girlfriend
Trillian, and Marvin, the paranoid android.
The idea of Hitchhiker's Guide occurred to Adams one starry
night in Austria while he was on a break from England's Cambridge
University. After graduation, he worked on a script for the
story. It was aired by the BBC in 1978 and quickly gathered an
enthusiastic following. The novelized version shot to the top of
the London SUNDAY TIMES and so far has sold more than two million
copies in England alone.
When Adams first came to the United States in 1980, he
visited a science fiction convention in Boston and was astounded
to find a small knot of fans wearing towels and quoting from
Hitchhiker's Guide.
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HITCHHIKER/3
Shortly thereafter, the appearance of the book and its
elevation to a college cult object here led National Public Radio
to air the radio show, PBS-TV to broadcast the television
version, and several retailers to report a run on towels.
That was only the beginning. Today, the names of Douglas
Adams and Arthur Dent are equally renowned on high school and
college campuses. The Hitchhiker's books are steady sellers, and
Infocom promises to have one of the most successful interactive
games ever.
# # #
* Copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams.
Copyright 1984 by Infocom, Inc.
inpocom
Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)492-1031
News Release
CONTACT : Patricia Maroni
Director of Public Relations
(617) 492-1031
Katherine Calamaras
(212) 398-0820
SIMON & SCHUSTER ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING GROUP TO DISTRIBUTE
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY* TO BOOKSTORES
CAMBRIDGE, MA, (November, 1984) — Simon & Schuster Electronic
Publishing Group and Infocom, Inc., a leader in creative software
development, announced that Simon & Schuster will serve as the
book store distributor for Infocom's latest release. The
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy .
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was developed through
the combined efforts of Douglas Adams, author of the novel by the
same name, and Steve Meretzky, award-winning designer of Infocom's
TM TM
Planetfal 1 and Sorcerer . The program is the latest release in
a series of interactive fiction programs from Infocom, and their
first program to be adapted from another medium.
"We feel this program will have great appeal in the book
store environment," said Alvin B. Reuben, Executive Vice President
of Simon & Schuster's Electronic Publishing Group. "Because the
software program is based upon a best-selling novel, it will be a
natural for book store sales," he said.
"We're very pleased to have Simon & Schuster distributing
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Simon & Schuster/2
this program for us," said Joel Berez, President of Infocom. "The
Electronic Publishing Group really understands how to sell
software to book stores."
Simon & Schuster's Electronic Publishing Group was formed in
1983 to develop, market and distribute computer software and books
to computer specialty, consumer electronics, mass merchandiser,
book, toy and video outlets nationwide. The Electronic Publishing
Group is a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., a member of the
Entertainment & Communications Group of Gulf + Western, Inc.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy will also be distributed
by computer specialty software stores and all major national
software distributors. It carries a suggested retail price of
$39.95. The software is available for all brands of popular
microcomputers (suggested retail price for Atari, Commodore 64 and
Color Computer is $34.95).
# # #
Copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams
Copyright 1984 by Infocom, Inc.
STEVE MERETZKY: AN AWARD-WINNING
MEMBER OF INFOCOM 'S DEVELOPMENT TEAM
CAMBRIDGE, MA (November, 1984) — The September-October
1983 issue of SOFTLINE featured a unique cover: three paragraphs
from Infocom's interactive fiction game Planetf al 1 .
The paragraphs described a particularly sensitive part of
the story and ended with the reviewer’s comment that "Your friend
is gone and you're alone . . . You don't feel like that very
often. Maybe after you read 'Charlotte's Web' . . . Maybe when
they shot Bambi's mother . . . But this scene is from a computer
game. A game!"
Steve Meretzky, the author of Planetf al 1 , is accustomed to
such praise. Since Planetfal l's release in September 1983, it
has been highly acclaimed as a product both humorous and humane,
winning numerous awards for both the game and the designer.
Meretzky's second infocom release. Sorcerer , prompted a
leading magazine reviewer to comment, "Keep it up, Steve, and
we'll be looking for you to precipitate a Pulitzer Prize for
interactive fiction adventures."
Interactive fiction is a new genre of literature that was
redefined for widespread software distribution by Infocom.
Sophisticated programming techniques allow Infocom users to
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MERETZKY/2
influence the course of a story by communication with their
computers in complex, conversational English.
Writing interactive fiction was evidently a good career
change for Meretzky, who earned a degree in Construction Project
Management from M.I.T. After graduation, he took three
successive jobs in the field. None of them provided the
satisfaction he'd anticipated.
In mid-1981, he was out of work and spending a lot of time
around the apartment he shared with Michael Dornbrook, now
Infocom's Product Manager for Entertainment Software. At the
time, Dornbrook was testing Zork R I and Zork II for Infocom.
Meretzky began to play the games, reporting bugs when he
found them. He did such a good job that when Dornbrook left the
area to attend business school and Infocom's Marc Blank needed
someone to test Deadline , he thought of Meretzky.
By June 1982, Steve Meretzky was working half-time as a game
tester at infocom. He began to work on Planetf al 1 , spending less
time testing and more time writing. In October 1982, he signed
on full-time as an Infocom game writer.
Planetf al l has been cited as "Best Adventure Game of *83" by
INFOWORLD and "Best All-Text Game of the Year" by COMPUTER GAMES
magazine. It was chosed as one of the 10 most popular programs
of 1983 by a national magazine reader's poll and deemed "a text
game extraordinaire" by VIDEO REVIEW magazine, who gave Meretzky
a ViRA award for "Best Software Designer of 1983."
At the 1984 Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) ,
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MERETZKY/3
Planetf al 1 was voted one of the most original software programs
for 1983-84. The CES Software Showcase experts cited Meretzky
for "innovativeness of concept, technical superiority, and
product uniqueness."
Reviewers find the same qualities evident in Sorcerer ,
released in March 1984. Fifth in Infocom's fantasy series,
Sorcerer provides the player with magic spells which are put to
use in the search for a missing necromancer. The search leads
through a variety of fantastic locations, from a honky-tonk
amusement park to the labyrinthian passages of a glass palace.
Meretzky's most recent project is an interactive fiction
version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy *, written in
collaboration with Douglas Adams, author of the best-selling
novel. The Hitchhiker's Guide , a hilarious journey through the
universe in the company of a motley troupe of Earthlings, aliens
and robots, will be released this month.
# # #
♦copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams
copyright 1984 by Infocom, Inc.
DOUGLAS ADAMS
Unlike the pound or Watney's Ale, British humor travels the
Atlantic well. American audiences have long been fans of the
English comic muses from Henry Fielding to Monty Python. Latest
in this long parade of writers to reach the Colonies is Douglas
Adams, whose fourth volume in the "Hitchhiker Trilogy" will soon
reach bookstores, to the delight of his countless fans.
The son of a post graduate theology student and a nurse,
Douglas Noel Adams was born in Cambridge, England, in 1952. He
was schooled at Brentwood in Essex, then entered Cambridge
College in 1970. Cambridge during the '70's was a fertile bed of
comic genius that spawned such stars as Dudley Moore, John
Cleese, Peter Cook and Graham Chapman.
Adam’s antic notions fit the school's extracurricular style,
and he soon joined The Footlights Club, famous for its comic and
satirical productions. He began collaborating with many of the
writers who would later create The Monty Python Show and Not
The Nine O'clock News .
It was on a semester break at Cambridge that the idea for
his first major effort came to him. He had been travelling
around the Continent, using The Hitchhiker's Gi de To Europe as a
reference. It was a starry night in Innsbru k and Adams lay on
his back, slightly drunk, contemplating the .niverse. The
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Adams/2
thought came to him that someone should write THE HITCHHIKER’S
GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, combining the Gee-Whiz! fun of science
fiction with timely social satire. It took six years for the
idea to come to fruition, but it has provided his passport to
considerable fame and a modest fortune.
Graduating Cambridge in 1974, Adams "went up" to London and
tried his hand at TV writing, penning a number of episodes for
the Dr. Who series, which was aired in this country on PBS. Two
years later, he was broke and accepted a job as bodyguard for a
royal Arabian family. His job, he says, was to stand outside the
door, bow occasionally, and run if anyone showed up with a hand
grenade.
During his off-hours, he began writing HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE.
His Innsbruck fantasy first took form as a radio serial, which he
sold to the BBC. The show began to build a cult following --
people who it seemed, couldn’t wait to start their own adventures
travelling around the galaxy.
The series became so popular in Britain, that it was aired four
times, and ultimately spawned four books, a television
series, two records, a stage show and an interactive fiction
computer game.
Americans discovered HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE during the 1980's,
and the radio version has been broadcast several times on
National Public Radio, PBS-TV has aired the television version,
and the books have sold in the hundreds of thousands.
Now that the book has been optioned for a film, Adams has
become a modern version of Renaissance Man, though his view of
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Adams/3
man’s foibles places him somewhere between Swift and Dickens.
In addition to HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE, Adams has now completed
three more volumes in the "trilogy:" THE RESTAURANT AT THE END
OF THE UNIVERSE; LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING; and, SO LONG,
AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.
He recently co-authored a book with British satirist John
Lloyd called The Meaning of Liff (sic). It's a small dictionary
of place names adapted to describe situations and experiences
which have other name designation. Thus, "Epping" describes the
little futile finger movements you use to get a barman’s
attention, and "Kalami" is the ancient Eastern art of being able
to fold road maps properly.
After seven months in Los Angeles, working on the screenplay
for HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, Adams has given up on America and now
resides once more in England, where he practices the first rule
of galactic hitchhiking: "Don't Panic."
# # #
IN033
INFOCOM'S INTERACTIVE FICTION
AN INTELLIGENT PRODUCT
CREATED THROUGH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at
least it would be if you could see it which you can't.
It is pitch black.
These are the first lines of a story, in which you are the main
character. You're eager to read on and learn what happens next. But
the following line contains only a prompt. It's up to you to decide
what comes next. You're reading a work of interactive fiction.
Interactive fiction is a new form of entertainment software in
which a short novel is programmed onto a computer disk. The result is
a sophisticated "game", wherein the player determines the course of
the plot through English-language commands typed into the computer.
>TURN ON THE LIGHT
Good start to the day. Pity it's going to be the worst one of your
life. The light is now on.
- 2 -
Infocom, Inc., founded in 1979, is the leading developer and
manufacturer of interactive fiction. Infocom titles are presently
available in four genres: Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and
Tales of Adventure. The examples of interactive fiction contained in
this article are from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy * , the
latest entry in Infocom's science fiction series. In The Hitchhiker 1 s
Guide to the Galaxy , you take the role of Arthur Dent, a man who wakes
up one morning at his home in England's West Country to find that not
just his house, but the entire planet, is scheduled for demolition.
Bedroom , in the bed.
The bedroom is a mess.
It is a small bedroom with a faded carpet and old wallpaper.
There is a washbasin , a chair with a tatty dressing gown slung over
it, and a window with the curtains drawn. Near the exit leading south
is a phone.
There is a flathead screwdriver here, (outside the bed)
There is a toothbrush here, (outside the bed)
What happens next? Do you get out of bed? Look out the window? Put
on the dressing gown? Whatever you do, it had better be quick.
There's not much time left before the planet is demolished, and you
find yourself, if you're lucky, on a Vogon Constructor ship,
accompanied by your friend Ford Prefect.
t ■
- 3 -
An announcement is coming over the ship's intercom . "This is the
Captain . My instruments show that we've picked up a couple of
hitchhikers . I hate freeloaders , and when my guards find you I'll
have you thrown into space. On second thought , maybe I'll read you
some of my poetry first. Repeating. .. "
>WAKE FORD
Rather like trying to wake the dead.
Guards burst in and grab you and Ford , who comes slowly awake . They
drag you down the corridor to a large cabin , where they strap you into
large, menacing chairs...
Captain's Quarters, in the poetry appreciation chair
This is the cabin of the Vogon Captain. You and Ford are strapped
into poetry appreciation chairs.
The Captain is indescribably hideous, indescribably b lubber y, and
indescribably mid-to-dark green. He is holding samples of his
favorite poetry.
>STAND UP
You're strapped in, remember?
"If he's going to read us his poetry," mutters Ford, sweating
profusely, "just pray he softens us up with some cudgels first..."
A
- 4 -
"Hello, hitchhikers! " begins the Vogon Captain. "I've decided to
read you a verse of my poetry!"
>CAPTAIN, DON'T READ THE POETRY!
One of the guards lightly bashes your skull with the butt of his
weapon. "This is a poetry appreciation session, prisoner. No talking!"
>GUARDS, LET ME GO
I don’t know the word "let".
"Oh f reddled gruntbuggly, thy nacturations are to me!"
>D0N'T LISTEN
You have no choice. Why not relax and enjoy it?
"As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee."
>RELAX
A brave, Zen-like effort. It fails.
It is of course well known that careless talk costs lives, but the
full scale of the problem is not always appreciated. For instance, at
the exact moment you said "guards, let me go" a freak wormhole opened
in the fabric of the space-time contiuum and carried your words far
- 5 -
far back in time across almost infinite reaches of space to a distant
galaxy where strange and warlike beings were poised on the brink of
frightful interstellar battle.
The two opposing leaders were meeting for the last time. A dreadful
silence fell across the conference table as the commander of the
Vl'Hurgs , resplendent in his black jewelled battle shorts , gazed
levelly at the G'Gugvunt leader squatting opposite him in a cloud of
green , sweet-smelling steam . As a million sleek and horribly
beweaponed star cruisers poised to unleash electric death at his
single word of command , the VI 'Hurg challenged his vile enemy to take
back what it had said about his mother.
The creature stirred in its sickly broiling vapour , and at that very
moment the words " guards , let me go" drifted across the conference
table. Unfortunately , in the Vl'hurg tongue this was the most
dreadful insult imaginable , and there was nothing for it but to wage
terrible war for centuries . Eventually the error was detected, but
over two hundred and fifty thousand worlds, their peoples and cultures
perished in the holocaust.
You have destroyed most of a small galaxy. Please pick your words
with greater care.
"Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes ."
> ENJOY THE POETRY
You realize that , although the Vogon poetry is indeed astoundingly
bad, worse things happen at sea, and in fact, at school. With an
effort for which Hercules himself would have patted you on the back,
you grit your teeth and enjoy the stuff.
"And hooptitiously dr angle me with crinkly bindlewurdles, or I will
rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon , see if I won't!"
Infocom's Interactive Fiction
The success of Infocom and the continued popularity of Infocom
titles are due to a number of features which set Infocom's interactive
fiction apart from "adventure games".
Interactive fiction by Infocom is characterized by all text,
rather than graphic illustrations with a few words underneath.
Current computer graphics at their best are still rudimentary,
providing players with a minimal amount of detailed information. And
because graphics take up most of the computer screen (and disk), there
is little room left for detailed text descriptions.
Infocom stories provide rich, detailed descriptions of characters
and locations. The player's imagination can "see" far more than a computer
graphic could provide.
-7-
This is the lair of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal .
There are exits east and southwest .
The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is here, looking particularly
nasty and hungry.
The Beast whips its evil-smelling tail away from your nose and bellows
a brain-shattering roar. By suddenly popping out of nowhere you have
disturbed its train of thought. However, since its train of thought
was the usual one, and in fact the only one it knows, which goes like
this " hungry . . . hungry . . . hungry . . . hungry . . . bad-tempered . . . hungry ... ",
it soon starts to chug along again.
You notice the Beast's Lasero-Zap eyes, its Swivel Shear Teeth, and
its several dozen tungsten carbide Vast-Pain claws, forged in the sun
furnaces of Zangrijad. It has skin like a motorway and breath like a
747. It advances on you and roars out a demand that you say your name.
Infocom stories allow you to communicate with the computer in
conversational English sentences. Most competitive games require the
use of two-word, verb-noun commands, such as >GIVE SANDWICH. This can
be frustrating to the player, who must interact with a complex world
in a simplistic way. Infocom's advanced technology allows you to
type >GI VE THE BEAST THE CHEESE SANDWICH THEN GO WEST and have the
computer understand exactly what you mean.
Infocom game developers are skilled writers who create intricate.
enjoyable stories. As in any work of fiction, each product reflects
the author's literary style.
Infocom's Development Techniques
An Infocom title begins with a short synopsis. Following input
on the synopsis by other members of Infocom's development team, the
author begins programming the actual story into a DEC mainframe
computer, using Infocom's sophisticated proprietary programming
language. During programming, the story is expanded to its full
length.
Once the story has been programmed onto the mainframe, it is
ready for testing. Infocom's team of in-house testers approach the
product as players rather than as developers. They suggest new plot
twists and character motivations and report "bugs" to the writer, who
makes appropriate changes in the program. Infocom testers spend more
than 2000 hours "playing" each product.
One of the features of the Heart of Gold, a spaceship upon which
Arthur Dent spends much of his time, is the Nutrimat, a nutrition-dispensing
machine. Testers felt there should be more of an indication as to how to
use the machine. So, the following passage, programmed to appear
randomly, was added to the story: Zaphod Beeblebrox walks in and presses
the touch-sensitive pad. The Nutrimat produces a huge , ice-cold Pan-Galactic
Gargle Blaster.
-9-
When the program has passed Infocom's in-house standards, it is
sent to up to twenty outside testers, whose comments invariably
improve the product further. The program is still later sent to an
additional dozen testers, located in various U.S. cities. This long
process of review and alteration is part of the quality control
Infocom applies to each product, each step of the way.
Infocom's Technological Advantage
Infocom's advanced technology makes possible an advanced product.
Foremost in this is the sophisticated parser used in each Infocom
title.
The parser is the internal computer code that separates the words
in a player's command into grammatical components. Less sophisticated
parsers understand only verbs and nouns, and games that use this type
of parser do not understand commands outside a simple two-word,
verb-noun format. This restriction severely limits the ease of play
and the realism of the game.
Infocom's advanced parser recognizes nouns, verbs, prepositions,
adjectives and adverbs. It "understands" that some objects can be
opened, or eaten, or moved, or carried, and some can't. It "knows"
that a pin is short and sharp, and a crowbar is long and heavy. It
"understands" that a character may carry 7 small objects, or 3 large
objects, or 1 large and 3 small objects. It "knows" that a pond can
be crossed in a boat, that a boat is made of wood, that wood burns,
that fire smokes, that smoke can be seen and smelled. It recognizes
the difference between putting a cup of tea j_n a desk, or oji it, or
behind it, or under it.
Infocom employs the most advanced parser used in any entertainment
product. This allows each Infocom author to use a large and varied
vocabulary consistent with his own personal style.
The advanced compression techniques developed by Infocom enable more
of the writer's words to fit on the disk. There is room for extensive
descriptions of character and location.
Infocom's technology also makes possible the production of
stories of identical content for twenty-three different personal
computers. Other entertainment software manufacturers program each
game in specific computer versions. Consequently, the games differ
slightly from one computer to another, and the length of time required
to translate each game for each computer confines these companies to a
limited number of products.
Infocom, on the other hand, has developed its own language
interpreter program, enabling the company's software engineers to make
each personal computer capable of interpreting Infocom's proprietary
binary code. This interpreter is an integral part of the disk. The
computer reads the high-level code and interprets the game in its own
- 11 -
r''
language. Because the same interpreter can be used for each game
manufactured for a given computer, the conversion process requires far
less time.
The competitive factor
Infocom's definition of interactive fiction: high-quality
stories, written with humor, intelligence and sophistication;
developed and produced using advanced techniques unparalleled in the
industry; marked by the "reader's" own imagination instead of
prescribed graphics.
Fantasy titles include the classic Zork® trilogy. Enchanter ™, and
—
Sorcerer™. The Tales of Adventure series includes Infidel ™, Seastalker ™
and Cutthroats ™. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy joins Starcross ™,
Suspended ™, and Planetf al 1 ™ to round out Infocom's Science Fiction line.
In the Mystery genre, look for Deadl i ne ™. The Witness ™ and Suspect ™.
# # #
* Copyright 1979 by Douglas Adams
Copyright 1984 by Infocom, Inc.
GLOSSARY
A PLAYER'S GUIDE
TO
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
ARTHUR DENT
Arthur Dent is one of the last two surviving Earthlings . •
BABEL FISH
A mind-boggl ingly improbable creature. A babel-fish, when
placed in one's ear, allows one to understand any language.
EARTH
Mostly harmless.
FLUFF
Fluff is interesting stuff: a deadly poison on Bodega
Minor, the diet staple of Frazelon V, the unit of currency
on the moons of the Blurfoid system, and the major crop of
the laundry supplies planet, Blastus III.
FORD PREFECT
Ford Prefect is a roving researcher for The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
GENUINE PEOPLE PERSONALITIES
Genuine People Personalities are a misguided attempt by the
Sirius Cybernetics Corporation to make their machines behave
more like people. Among the more miserable failures:
paranoid-depressive robots and over-protective computers.
HEART OF GOLD
"There is absolutely no such spaceship as the Heart of Gold
and anything you've ever read in this spot to the contrary
was just a prank." — Galactic Security Agency
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
The Hitchhiker's Guide is a wholly remarkable product. But
then again, you must already know that, since you bought
one .
more
2
MAGRATHEA
According to legend, Magrathea was a planet that amassed
incredible wealth by manufacturing other planets.
MARVIN
Marvin is a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation robot with the
new Genuine People Personalities feature.
MICROSCOPIC SPACE FLEET >
The editor responsible for entries under this heading has
been out to lunch for a couple of years but is expected back
soon, at which point there will be rapid updates. Until
then, don't panic, unless your situation is really a life or
death one, in which case, sure, go ahead, panic.
NUTRIMAT
A typically unreliable Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
product, the Nutrimat analyses the user's neural paths to
provide the (supposedly) ideal offering.
PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES
A must for the serious hitchhiker, pe r i 1 -sens i t i v e
sunglasses darken at the first hint of danger, thus
shielding the wearer from seeing anything alarming.
Recommended brand: Joo Janta.
9
RAVENOUS BUGBLATTER BEAST OF TRAAL
The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is a mind-bogglingly
stupid animal. Here is an example of how stupid it is: it
thinks that if you can't see it, it can't see you. Its
behavior would be quite endearing if it wasn't spoilt by
this one thing: it is the most violently carnivorous
creature in the galaxy.
SIRIUS CYBERNETICS CORPORATION
The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation incompetently produces a
wide range of inefficient and unreliable high-tech
machinery. However, thanks to the SCC's ruthless marketing
division, this junk accounts for over 95% of the high-tech
machinery sold in the galaxy.
more
3
SPACE
If you hyperventilate and then empty your lungs, you will
last about thirty seconds in the vacuum of space. However,
because space is so vastly hugely mind-bogg 1 ing ly big,
getting picked up by another ship within those thirty
seconds is almost infinitely improbable.
THUMB
The Electronic Sub-Etha Auto Hitching Thumb is a wonderful
thing, but should not be mistreated. If used while a ship
is near, you will be transported there. If no ship is in
the vicinity, you will place a heavy strain on the Thumb's
logic circuits, which could lead to malfunction. The Thumb
carries the usual Sirius Cybernetics Corporation lifetime
guarantees .
TOWEL *
A towel is the most useful thing (besides the Guide) a
galactic hitchhiker can have. Its uses include travel,
combat, communications, protection from the elements, hand-
drying and reassurance. Towels have great symbolic value,
with many associated points of honour. Never mock the towel
of another, even if it has little pink and blue flowers on
it. Never do something to somebody else's towel that you
would not want them to do to yours. And, if you borrow the
towel of another, you MUST return it before leaving their
world .
TRILLIAN
Trillian is the other surviving Earthling.
VOGONS
Vogons, whose specialties are bureaucracy and planet-
smashing, are the most unpleasant race in the galaxy. They
wouldn't lift a finger to save their own grandmother from
the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX
Zaphod Beeblebrox is the current President of the Galaxy.
# # #
GLOSSARY . INFOCOM (c )
Douglas Adams
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9 Verbal Concept from G/R
1 3 5/V Comments on Concept, to G/R
20 $ I s" Revised Verbal Concept from G/R
24 C/0 / Approval of Revised Concept to G/R
24 C/Of Manual Copy to G/R
24 Cr; j Logo from G/R
34 6 / - Copy, layout, schedule, est. from G/R
34 {' / C Unusual pieces from G/R for Approval
39 ( l i / Comments on copy 6c layout to G /R
39 d Disk label mechanical from G/R
42 ^ .■ Revised copy & layout from G/F:
42 v - Estimate £*. schedule from G/R
46 * G/R inputs creative on prod, announcement
46 C Approval of final copy & layout to G/R
40 6 A .
Photos 6 illustrations ordered bv G/R
11
12
SR ' ■ / 4 Final input for 90-day release to G/R
S6 1 i -T Concept, layout, heads for prod, announcement
from G/R
59 ?//0' Comments; on concept, layout, heads for product.
announcement to G/R
60 1 \H First draft, of 90-day release from G/R
^ Vj I - P<*yz /-
'Wtek 2 z 6-tO
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WEEK
13
14
IS
6 1 7// 2- comments on draft of 90-day release to G/F:
62 . 7 /' 3 Mechanicals from G/F:
63 7 / / 4 Final copy of 90-day release from G/R
G4 7 / '7 First draft of prod, announcement copy from G/F,
65 ?//£ Approved mechanicals to G/R
6 5 7 / i? Hint bool: & map concept from G/R
66 7/1 ^ Comments on product announcement copy
to G/R
70 7/1 r Comments on hint book & map concept to G/R
70 7/?r 90-dav release mail date
7 1 7 7 t Revised product announcement copy from G/R
*7 <
! I
7/ 3.r Comments on revised product announcement copy
to G/F:
16
17
7 6 C / C Final product announcement copy approval to G /R
62 tjlO Product announcement mechanical for proofing
from G/F:
85) e/if Approved product announcement mechanical to
G/R
as e/ /f Hint book cover & map layout from G/R
65 f/ /f Final hint book & map copy to- production
t at mail house
100 Product announcement shipped to CPS
WEEK
DAY
21
o
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103 qjit Product announcement
105 q i \ 3 Product announcement mailed
105 ?//3 Deliver to Research packaging
! 10 Hmt book 6 map mechanicals to printer
126 10 j if Final input for final release
(revisions, updates)
/R
130 o? Final copy for final release from G/R
135 (o/2< Final release mail date
13 5 loj 25 Hint book & map at creative fulfillment
135 *J/2 S’ On shelf
4/24/84
INF4-
G/R
Giardini/Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
INFOCOM
THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
PACKAGING
CREATIVE FOCUS
PRODUCT:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION :
This is the fourth product in the science fiction series. R t — is th e -
•f4r-st-time a main character, of established pender, --has-been
Tncorpor ated -fnt-o-tbe story T4ne-«— Ar th-ur-Def^t .
SETTING:
Present day, in a small British town. r ^The story line.quickly
transforms into a random trek all over ~V^~lJmVerse^ fol lowing
destruction of earth.
the
■ n . j
v OBJECTIVE :
(Vo CT
To -Rave-fun-emd be happy. The score ^ as - ne -^H^et-^T^^Ton-
aeti on s - 4n - A ber^t^ryi dbipa (This should not be revealed to
player, however).
n/ojA j-‘A>uves,s
J. . .. ... J
to
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the Hi \ t 5
3
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TARGET AUDIENCE : .
'777775/,, jLv“ t rkfs-i w
Primary: flon-In£ocom pame players /"Non -Hitchhiker" readers.
f \J •s ">
Secondary: Infocom game players 'an^A^—iRi^cttbiker - -readers .
/
/ v ^ / - 1 -i/cCc-n i ; : i '"irf /*( i
An introduction will be included for non-Hitchhiker readers in order
to bridge the gap. The introduction will be -eTttrer-=on-44^-er printed.
TONE:
Tongue-in-cheek. Dry, sophisticated British humor. (Monty Python).
A Member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies
Creative Focus
Page 2
4/24/84
UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS :
1. Based on the book by British author Douglas Adams 4ex44o«tyL^EytbofH^e)-
"The Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Over six million copies of
the three-book series have been sold.
K'O. xkl V\A ^ ° ^ \
2. Score is not directly related to within the story.
3. No real goals/objectives - uncharted, unpredictable trek through
the galaxy.
EXECUTIONAL GUIDELINES :
1. New package design which will be determined on May 1.
2. Cover graphic must be consistent with graphics of the the series
of book covers, but it does not have to replicate it.
3. Cover graphic must include "Don't Panic" warning.
4. Title must be exactly that of the book.
5. Must include picture of planet with tongue sticking out.
6. Author's name will not appear on the package.
A
7. Package reorder unit cost must be less than $2.50 per 50M.
INTERNAL ELEMENTS :
1. Destruct order for Author Dent's house. { h-x *4 i
2. Destruct order for planet earth. ■
3. Peril-sensitive sun glasses (cost sensitive).
4. (Microscopic Space Fleet) - listed internal elements or actually
included.
5. Towel - strongly recommended (cost sensitive).
6. Manual . 1
7. No tea (in listing of internal elements).
BUDGET :
$60M. - G/R creative costs through mechanical stage.
PRODUCTION QUANTITY :
50, 75, 100M. ___ __
TIMETABLE :
On-shelf date of November 1.
G/R Conference Report
Giardini /Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
Client:
Report by:
Place:
Present for client:
Present for agency:
Infocom
Harle
Infocom
Mike D./Marc B./John P./
Steve M.
Harle/Michael B. /David/
Katie
Date:
Conference Date:
Client copies to:
5/10/84
5/8/84
Mike/Marc/ John/Steve/
Joel
Agency copies to: Allan H. /David H. /Deborah C ./
Eric N. /Harle P. /Katie B./
Michael B. /Nancy G./Sharlene
Attention
4 .
Client/Agency met to discuss the following:
Eric/David
1. Cutthroats (INFP3-1063)
Client presented their comments on first draft copy and
layout which was presented last week.
A. Shipwreck Book - The island should be much smaller.
It takes 12 hours to get to any of the shipwrecks and
only five minutes to get from one end of the island to
the other. Layout should be revised to show the island
in an inset at the lower left corner of the map. Copy is
fine as is with minor changes (as noted).
David
B. Price List - Delete reference to the bridge on the
front cover. New price list (provided by client) should
replace the old one. Tide chart can remain as is on
back cover.
David
C. Manual - Make minor copy changes as noted on specific
pages .
Next Steps: Revisions will be made and presented to client
on Tuesday, 5/15. Client needs mock-up of all materials
(manual, price list, shipwreck book and map) by Tuesday
to send out with beta test copies of program.
2. Hitchhikers Guide ( I NFP4- 1064 )
Agency presented verbal concept of package. Client will
be giving agency comments on verbal concept on Friday,
5/11. In the meantime. Agency will investigate the costs
for plastic glasses which may be included in package.
*Note: The game itself ends on page 135 in the book.
Next Steps: Client to provide comments on verbal concept
Friday, 5/11.
G/R Conference Report
Giardini /Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
Client: Info com
Report by:
Place:
Present for client:
Present for agency:
Date: 5/10/84
Conference Date: Page Two
Client copies to:
Agency copies to:
Attention
3. Sampler Blister Pack
Client informed Agency that there will jiot be a
manual in the package. Client will be designing a
special reference card instead. The back of the
package should describe the product.
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Infocom, Inc , 55 Wheeler Street. Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)492-1031
HIFOCOm
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Comments on Verbal Concept:
1. Inside front cover of package will be an excerpt from The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to The Galax y [hereafter HGG], possibly regarding the guide itself.
We will provide you with this copy.
O'//?
2. Browsing manual in front should be in guise of a sales brochure or
operating guide for the HGG , not for the Heart of Gold.
3. Bestruct order for Earth should be in an "invented" (nonexistent)
alphabet, not in English. However, the seals should look identical on
both destruct orders, and in fact line for line and word for word they
look the same. The blanks are in the same space, the typeface size is
the same, etc. (see attached).
4. Other internal elements:
a) Drop the "man’s pocket" theme
b) Drop the paper airplane idea
c) Note that ambiguous material is fluff , not lint
r s
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G/R Copy
Giardini /Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
(front cover).
Don't panic!
(THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY logo)
(INFOCOM™ logo)
INTERACTIVE FICTION
SCIENCE FICTION
STANDARD LEVEL
(spine)
(THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY logo)
(INFOCOM™ logo)
(back cover)
(caption)
Tossed with acrobatic precision Into this and every HITCHHIKER'S package:
your HITCHHIKER'S disk, Don't Pa
Client: Infocon •
Title: HITCHHIKER'S Outside Package
Date: 6/14/84
Number: INFP3-1064
l>t. t'ycUn.Jtd ' “TSP
G/R
Date: 6/14/84
Number: INFM-MM
Page: ^
(back cover copy) — —
Beyond question the most mind-bogalinqly hilarious story Infocoro has ever
of the phenomenal best-sell ino novel. In the nerson of Arthur Dent, you'll
chortle as your home is bulldozed. You'll bellow when your planet is
demolished. You'll yelp with laughter while your life is being threatened
by the Ravenous Buablatter Beast of Traal. And ycur sides will positively
split as you search the length and breadth of the Universe for a decent
cup of tea, or whatever it is you're supposed to be lookina for. So grab
of*
a frog o f p eanuts and a couple for the road and join Ford Prefect, Trillian,
Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin on a cosmic jaunt into the outer reaches. And
don't forget your towel!
(Subhead)
Get inside a story. Get one from Infocom!
(Copy)
It's like waking up inside a story! Load Infocom'* Interactive fiction
into your computer and discover yourself at the center of a world jam-packed
with surprising twists, unique characters and original, logical, often
hilarious puzzles.
is THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, by Douglas Adams, author
Date: 6/14/84
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 3
For the first time, you're more than a passive reader. You can talk to
4
the story, typing in full English sentences. And the story talks right
back, communicating entirely in vividly descriptive prose. What's more,
you can actually shape the story's course of events through your choice
of actions. And you have hundreds of alternatives at every step. In
fact, there's so much you can see and do, your adventure can last for
weeks and even months.
To find the Infocom interactive story that's right for you, just choose
any one marked with the level of difficulty listed below that best matches
your current level of interactive skill.
Junior: ((bold)) Best introduction to interactive fiction. Written for
everyone from age 9 up.
Standard: ((6old)) Good introductory level for adults. This is Infocom's
most popular level of interactive fiction.
Advanced: ((bold)) A greater level of challenge. Recommended for those
who've already experienced Infocom's Interactive fiction.
Expert: ((bold)) For real diehards seeking the ultimate challenge in inter-
active fiction.
G/R
Date: 6/14/04
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 4
Then find out what it's like to get inside a story. Get one from Infocom,
4
Because with Infocoro's interactive fiction, there's room for you on every
disk.
(INFOCOM™ logo)
55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138
For your: Apple II, Macintosh, Atari, Commodore 64, DECmate, DEC Rainbow,
DEC RT-11, HP 150 A 110, IBM PC* * PCjr, KAYPRO II, MS-DOS 2.0*, Osborne,
TI Professional, TI 99/4A, Tandy 2000, TRS-80 Color Computer, TRS-80
Models I & III.
★
Use the IBM PC version for your Compaq and the MS-DOS 2.0 version for your
Wang, Mindset, Data General System 10, GRiD and many others.
Manufactured and Printed in USA
© 1984 Infocom, Inc.
Warranty Information enclosed.
G/R Copy
^ ft
biT^'fch 7 J I
Giardini/Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926- 5030
Client:
Tide:
Infocom
HITCHHIKER'S Outside Package
Date:
Number:
6/29/84
INFP3-1064
{front cover)
Don't panic!
(THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY logo)
(InfoconT logo)
INTERACTIVE FICTION
SCIENCE FICTION
STANDARD LEVEL
(spine) (THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY logo)
(Infocom’" logo)
(back cover)
(caption)
/
Tossed with acrobatic precision into this and every HITCHHIKER'S
package: your HITCHHIKER'S disk. Don't Panic! button, ^u?K^ti7
luff, jMegadodo Publications sales brochure for the latest model of
Hitchh iker ' s Guide , official -destruct orders for your home and
your planet, peril -sensitive sunglasses, microscopic space fleet and
T&Q
no tea.
Date:
Number:
Page:
6/29/84
INFP3-1064
2
■4
(back cover copy)
Beyond question the most mind-boggl ingly hilarious story Infocom has
ever produced is THE HITCHHIKER'S -GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, written and
designed by Douglas Adams, author of the phenomenal ^best-selling
A
novel, and Steve Meretzky, the award-winning designer of Infocom' s
Planetfal 1 and Sorcerer . As the story begins, you are Arthur Dent,
and a bulldozer is preparing to level your house even as an alien
space fleet is preparing to level your planet. The incorrigible Mr.
Adams has written new material and designed problems especially for
this interactive story, and you'll soon be traveling the length and
breadth of the Universe in search of a decent cup of tea— or whatever
it is you're looking for. So grab a pint of bitter and a couple for
the road and join Ford Prefect, Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and
Marvin on a cosmic jaunt into the outer reaches where anything can —
and does— happen. And don't forget your towel!
(Subhead)
G«t inside a story. Get one from Infocom!
<Copy)
It's like waking up inside a story! Load Infocom's interactive
fiction into your computer and discover yourself at the center of a
j
6/29/84
I NFP 3-1064
3
wor^d jam-packed with surprising twists, unique characters and
original, logical, often hilarious puzzles.
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
For the first time, you're more than a passive reader. You can talk
to the story, typing in full English sentences. And the story talks
right, back, communicating entirely in vividly descriptive prose.
What's more, you can actually shape the story's course of events
through your choice of actions. And you have hundreds of
alternatives at every step. In fact, there's so much you can see and
do, your adventure can last for weeks and even months.
To find the Infocom interactive story that's right for you, just
choose any one marked with the level of difficulty listed below that
best matches your current level of interactive skill.
JUNIOR: Best introduction to interactive fiction. Written for
everyone from age 9 up.
STANDARD: Good introductory level for adults. This is Infocom's most
popular level of interactive fiction.
ADVANCEO: A greater level of challenge. Recommended for those who've
already experienced Infocom's interactive fiction.
Date:
Number:
Page:
EXPERT: For real diehards seeking the ultimate challenge in
interactive fiction.
6/29/84
INFP3-1064
4
Then find out what it's like to get inside a story. Get one from
Infocom. Because with Infocom's interactive fiction, there's room
for you on every disk.
(Infocom 1 " logo)
55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138
For your: Apple II, Macintosh, Atari, Commodore 84, DECmate, DEC
Rainbow, DEC RT-11, HP 150 & 110, IBM PC* & PCjr, KAYPRO II, MS-DOS
2.0*, Osborne, TI Professional, TI 99/4A, Tandy 2000, TRS-80 Color
Computer, TRS-80 Models I & III.
*Use the IBM PC version for your Compaq and the MS-DOS 2.0 version
for your Wang, Mindset, Data General System 10, GRiD and many others.
Manufactured and Printed in USA
° 1984 Infocom, Inc.
Warranty information enclosed.
PLAn£TF%<LL SotcttW
ZORK is a r e gistered trademarl^ 5 of Infocom, Inc.
THt HtrHHItt#! i-umi To rye £-AL*e/
Beyond question the most mind-bogglingly hilarious story I nf ocom has
ever produced is THE HITCHHIKES * S GUIDE TQ THE GALAXY, written and
designed by Douglas Adams, author of the phenomenal best-selling novel)
and Steve Meretzky, the award-iuinn in g designer of Infocom's 0 lanetf all
and Sorcerer . As the story begins, you are Arthur Dent, and a bulldozer
preparing to level your house even as an alien space fleet is preparing
to level your planet. The incorrigible Hr. Adams has written new
material and designed problems especially for this
interactive story, and you'll soon be traveling the length and
breadth of tne Universe in searcn of a decent cud of tea -- or whatever
it is you're looking for. So grab a pint of bitter arc a couple for the
read and join -ord Prefect, Trillian, Zaphod Seeblebrox and w a r v i n on a
cosmic jaunt into the outer reaches where anything can -- and does —
haooen. And don't forget your towel!
R £ V I E w S PQ R I N S 2 0 £ - c HUCHhlKOR'S PACKAGE! 0 1 ea s e ", i v e comments*
^ suggestions, list of favorites , list o " unf svof’itss > arc 1 ? r c e
pieces of strawberry cheesecake * o S r a ,
r-
"Your so •* twa^e is '"evolution. ary! 1 like that*”
- F i d e 1 C astro » Used Car Salesman, h 3 v a n a ♦ Cuba
"Everything I've heart is true! You r games ARC coring » overo^iced »
and ? u/aste of time. The only thing stupider t h r this game is ry
brother Raich."
- S i r= k y 1 'Leery, Construction Work er , 'Brooklyn, NY
"The disk makes * great t e e t h i n • ring and fits perfectly or the
bottom o * a bird cage."
-Liz Taylor, Highway Patrolman, D isc at sway « N J
"The best game I've every clayed! But whet's
thing with the hole in the middle?"
-Ralph 7 'Leary , Gym Teacher,
u e !OUe r -l " 1 ~ c k fist
rcokiyr, NY
"I never played it and 1 hate ell coirput-r products ! I a o n ' t
understari why you're quoting - s ! ”
-Ralph B ur f 1 © , Fireman, Columbus, Cm
/■- " 1 especially like it when i t gets colorful ... on Sundays* I think.
Oh , aren't we talking a boo- comic strips?"
-wane Withheld by Request, President, Wsshingtdn, DC
5,i v v 'r v v v
"A stunning achievement in interactive fiction! funny, innovative,
3 n d a b a r sin at twice the price!"
-IMF New Z OP K T I M E S
"Info com products are ... a Piece o * [greatness] ... not ... merely
a C 3 a m e 3 . I would C b u y 3 any ... new CInfocom g a ^ e 1 . "
r- -NATIONAL GAZETTE
"helped sevens! staffers predict the future , get dates with ? 3 u 1
/*■> Newman, and lose 300 peuros in less than tour days."
-NATIONAL INQUISITOR
”lHI t CHhIKER'$3 is the g r a a t e s t Cuiork o t interactive tic tier 1 I've
ever Cpiayedl . T ne Cdescr ipti onsl were especially delicious!"
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TAKE THEIR WORDS FOR IT!
Your software is revolutionary! I like that.”
Fidel Castro, Former Baseball Player
Havana, Cuba
44
A stunning achievement in interactive fiction: funny , innovative ,
and a bargain at twice the pricer
THE NEW ZORK TIMES
“ Everything I’ve heard is true! Your games ARE boring, overpriced, and
a waste of time. The only thing stupider than this game is my brother Ralph *
Binky O’Leary, Construction Worker
Brooklyn, New York
‘Infocom products are ... a piece of [greatness] ...not... merely a [game].
I would [buy] any . . . new [Infocom game].”
NATIONAL GAZETTE
44
The best game I’ve ever played! But what’s the square
black flat thing with the hole in the middle ?”
Ralph O’Leary, Gym Teacher
Brooklyn, New York
‘ Helped several staffers predict the future, get dates with Paul Newman,
and lose 300 pounds in less than four days.”
NATIONAL INQUISITOR
‘ The disk makes a great teething ring and fits perfectly
on the bottom of a bird cage.”
Liz Taylor, Highway Patrolman
Piscataway, New’ Jersey
‘[HITCHHIKER’S] is the greatest [work of interactive fiction] I’ve
ever [played]. The [descriptions] were especially delicious!”
RESTAURANT GUIDE
4 4
I never played it and I hate all computer products!
/ don 7 understand why you ’re quoting me!”
Ralph Burfle, Fireman
Columbus, Ohio
“/ especially like it when it gets colorful.. . on Sundays, I think.
Oh, aren *t we talking about comic strips ?”
Name Withheld by Request
Washington, D.C.
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peril- sensitive sunglasses, microscopic space fleet and no tea. ^
Beyond question the most mind-
boggiingiy hilarious story Infocom
has ever produced is THE HITCH-
HIKER’S GUIDE TO THE
GALAXY, written and designed
by Douglas Adams, author of the
phenomenally best-selling novel,
and Steve Meretzky, the award-
winning designer of Infocom’s
PLANETFALL" and SORCERER.'"
As the story begins, you are Arthur
Dent, and a bulldozer is preparing
to level your house even as an
alien space fleet is preparing to
level your planet. The incorrigible
Mr. Adams has written new mate-
rial and designed problems espe-
cially for this interactive story. So
grab a pint of bitter and a couple
for the road and join Ford Prefect,
Triffian. Zaphod Beeblebrox and
Marvin on a cosmic jaunt into the
outer reaches where anything
can -and does-happen. And don’t
forget your towel!
GET INSIDE A STORY.
GET ONE FROM INFOCOM!
It’s like waking up inside a stood
Load Infocom’s interactive fiction
into your computer and discover
yourself at the center of a world
jam-packed with surprising twists,
unique characters and original,
logical, often hilarious puzzles.
For the first time, you’re more
than a passive reader. You can talk
to the story, typing in full English
sentences. And the story talks
right Lack, communicating entirely
in vividly descriptive prose. What’s
more, you can actually shape the
story’s course of events through
your choice of actions. And you
have hundreds of alternatives at
every step. In fact, there’s so
much you can see and do, your
adventure can last for weeks and
*even months.
To find the Infocom interactive
story that’s right for you, just
choose any one marked with the
level of difficulty listed below that
best matches your current level of
interactive skill.
Junior: Best introduction to
interactive fiction. Written for
everyone from age 9 up.
Standard: Good introductory level
for adults. This is Infocom’s most
popular level of interactive fiction.
Advanced: A greater level of
challenge. Recommended for
those who’ve already experienced
Infocom’s interactive fiction.
Expert: For real diehards seeking
the ultimate challenge in
interactive fiction.
Then find out what it’s like to
get inside a story. Get one from
Infocom. Because with Infocom’s
interactive fiction, there’s room
for you on every disk.
nFocom
55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138
For your: H. Macintosh. Atari. Commodore 64,
gECraatr. MFC Rainbow, DEC KT-ll, HP 150 & U0
IBM PC* & PCjr. KAYPKO II, MS-DOS 2.0*.
Osborn**, Tl Professional. T1 99/4A, Tandy 2000,
TRS-80 Color Computer. TRS-80 Models 1 & 01.
*t is** the IBM IV version (or your Compaq and
the MS-DOS 2.0 version for vour Wan*t. Mindset,
1 fcfta General System 10, GRiD and mam others.
Manufactured and Printed in USA
<t> 1084 infocom. Inc.
Warranty information enclosed.
Planetfatl At Sorcerer are trademarks of Infocom, Inc.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is
a trademark of I touglas Adams.
** #
o
It is not such a
mind-bogglingly
improbable coincidence
^that Douglas Adams, the irrepres-
jfible author of the best-selling novel
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE
GALAXY, would design an interactive
"story set in the same outrageous universe
as his books. He fell in love (well, strong “like”)
^ with Infocom’s other interactive stories some
time ago. He immediately saw the interactive possi-
bilities of HITCHHIKER’S and maniacally developed outrageously crazy
ideas. So Douglas teamed up with Infocom’s specialist in outrageously
crazy ideas, Steve Meretzky. Together, they did extensive research
throughout the Galaxy (in English pubs, anyway); Douglas wrote and
designed puzzles revolving around Vogon poetry, the Bugblatter Beast of
Traal, microscopic space fleets and, of course, tea (or lack thereof);
and Steve transformed Douglas’s ideas into the high-quality, sophisticated
software that is synonymous with Infocom’s interactive fiction.
And now you’re going to take a trip you never thought possible.
You are on the verge of becoming Arthur Dent, a simple if unworldly
chap whose house is, unluckily, being bulldozed to make way for a by-
pass. Not that it matters, really, since the Earth is about to be destroyed
for somewhat similar purposes. If you survive these twin disasters, you’ll
travel with Ford Prefect, your peculiar friend and neighbour, to the most
unusual corners of the Galaxy. (Some of the corners are so unusual, in
fact, that it's best not to assume the obvious — who you are, for instance.)
So prepare to have your mind boggled, your wits tested and your concept
of reality thrown for a loop by THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE
GALAXY. And donj, forget y our tow el!
i
The Table of Contents for the manual is on page 11. Read it to find out
what you need to know before you start the story.
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software that is synonymous with Infocom's interactive fiction.
crazy ideas. So Doug teamed up with Infocom's specialist in outra-
geously crazy ideas, Steve Meretzky. Together, they did extensive
research throughout the Galaxy (in English pubs, anyway); Dougf) wrote
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Giardini/Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
(Front cover)
HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU??
Now see the Universe the safe, sure, money-saving way with THE
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!
(Snipe)
As seen on TeleVideo!
(Megadodo Publications logo)
(Inside #1)
Yes! The Universe can be yours on just 30 Altairian dollars per day!
(Copy)
BLACK HOLES. SAVAGE ALIEN WARRIOR TRIBES. Welfare planets RULED BY
DRY-CLEANING ESTABLISHMENTS, where even the most basic of human
necessities are provided for A DAY LATE AND WITH TOO MUCH STARCH.
Face it, the Universe is NO PLACE TO TRY AND HAVE A GOOD TIME.
Unless, that is, you're the PROUD OWNER of that wholly remarkable
book. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy !
Client: imuLum
Tide: HITCHHIKER'S Browsie Manual
Infocom
Number: INFP3-1063
Ditto: 6/18/84
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 2
Within the MILLION-PLUS PAGES of The Guide , which in many corners of
the Galaxy has already supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the
STANDARD REPOSITORY OF ALL KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM, you'll find
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the Universe, from the utmost trivia
to the most VITAL INFORMATION pertaining to your health and well-
being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEE IT WILL TEACH YOU how to survive
and even ENJOY the Uni verse--al 1 on ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample of The Guide 1 s MILLIONS OF
USES and, like so many other satisfied customers, you'll be convinced
that this truly is THE MOST WHOLLY REMARKABLE BOOK you'll ever buy!
("Millions of Uses" section)
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The Guide show you how to get the best
rates and accommodations on exclusive vacation paradises like New
Poconos, Planet of the Heart-Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has all the answers — including "42" — as well
as most of the questions. For example: "Why is it that UFOs only
appear to genetically inbred, methyl alcohol-addicted backwoods yahoos
who no one ever believes anyhow?"
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide knows where to find all the swankiest
hotels, the trendiest restaurants, the swingingest nightclubs, the
Date:
6/18/84
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 7
friendliest escort services and the cheapest duty-free shops in which
to buy gifts for appeasing one's family and conscience!
NEEO HELP FAST? In a flash. The Guide can supply you with such useful
tidbits of information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara from a
Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant; what to do if Aunt Clara has been
devoured by a Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant; how to perform the Heimlich
Maneuver on a Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant and much, much more!
(Footnote)
*"30 Altairian Dollars Per Day" is an estimated figure and is provided
strictly for purposes of comparison. Actual expenses may be higher.
In fact, we're sure of it. Quite frankly, if you're not absolutely
prepared to mortgage your every last possession and sell your loved
ones into white slavery, you may as well stay home and camp out in
your backyard. Just about the only time any member of our research
staff ever got by on less than 50 Altairians per diem was on Voltar-7,
and even then he had to share a twin bunkbed with an acrobatic troupe
of insomniacal mildew-based life forms, and ate Plaster of Paris three
meals a day.
(Inside #2)
And that' s not al 1 !
6/18/84
Date:
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 4
(Copy)
The Guide is more than a SUPER TRAVELOGUE or an INCREDIBLE ANSWER
MACHINE— it's a LOVELY ADDITION TO ANY HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER that
FITS IN PERFECTLY WITH YOUR DECOR. It comes in a wrinkle-proof,
scratch-resistant plastic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
handsomely inscribed with the words DON'T PANIC in large, friendly
letters. And TALK ABOUT HANDY — The Guide has MORE OPTIONS THAN A
CHINESE RESTAURANT! Just LOOK WHAT YOU GET
("More Options Than A Chinese Restaurant" section)
73-FUNCTION POCKET CALCULATOR OPTION lets you solve equations that
have baffled mathematicians for centuries, such as how to travel
faster than the speed of light without losing your luggage.
CUSTOM CHRONOMETER displays year, month, day, date, hour, minute,
second and millisecond in civilian time, military time and Happy Hour
Time for the nearest pub in the Galaxy.
OPTIONAL TAN-O-MATIC"’ REFERENCE TABLE tells you the exact coordinates
of all the best beaches, the most up-to-date fashion tips on polarized
eyewear and reflectors, the precise number of hours you can sunbathe
before your friends have to carry you home in an urn, the appropriate
level of sunscreen to wear in case of a supernova.
6/18/84
I NF P 3- 1064
5
OPTIONAL SIRIUS CYBERNETICS BAROMETER/AVALANCHE GAUGE/NEO-DESCARTIAN
RELATIVE TRUTH MONITOR™ indicates temperature, barometric pressure,
high tide, low tide, wind direction and velocity, prevailing weather
conditions, amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours, number of
six-ton boulders likely to fall on you in the next ten seconds and
whether you're actually experiencing any of it or are simply being
deceived by your imperfect senses.
SALAD-SLASHER™ FOOD PROCESSOR ATTACHMENT slices, dices, chops and
bludgeons even the most rubbery vegetable in seconds!
(Burst)
Actual size!
(Callouts)
E-Z Press® Buttons (standard)
5 5/8-inch Screen (standard)
73-function Pocket Calculator (optional)**
Custom Chronometer Feature (optional)**
Tan-O-Matic Reference Table (optional**
Sirius Cybernetics Barometer/Avalanche Gauge/Neo-Descartian Relative
Truth Monitor (optional)**
SALAD-SLASHER Attachment (optional)**
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
Date:
Number:
Pa^e:
6/18/84
I NFP3-1064
6
(Trademark information)
TAN-O-MATIC, SIRIUS CYBERNETICS BAROMETER/AVALANCHE GAUGE/
NEO-DESCARTIAN RELATIVE TRUTH MONITOR and SALAD-SLASHER are trademarks
of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
E-Z PRESS is a registered trademark of Intergalactic Button
Manufacturers, Inc.
(Footnote)
** All optional features subject to availability and our total
unwillingness to jerry-rig some sort of glorified Swiss Army knife for
every gizmo-happy customer who happens to fall for this type of cheap
swank.
(Inside #3)
But wait. . .there* s more!
(Copy)
Now for a LIMITED TIME ONLY when you RUSH your Hitchhiker* s Guide to
the Galaxy order to Megadodo Publications, you'll also get as our
SPECIAL GIFTS to you ENOUGH THROW-IN ITEMS TO FILL AN ATTIC! So ACT
NOW and receive all these FABULOUS BONUSES!
("Enough Throw-In Items To Fill An Attic!" section)
Date:
Number:
Page:
6/18/84
INFP3-1064
7
FLUFF: Goes anywhere- -under the bed, behind the commode, at the bottom
of your pocket, inside your navel!
DESTRUCT ORDERS FOR YOUR HOME AND PLANET: Suitable for framing, and
great gag gifts at any party!
DON'T PANIC! BUTTON: Perfect for those times when your planet is being
bombarded by laser beams, dead people start walking the earth and
traces of radioactivity are discovered in your breakfast cereal!
J00 JANTA 200 SUPER-CHROMATIC PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES: You'll look
cool and stay cool even as you're being swallowed whole by the
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal!***
SPECTACULAR HITCHHIKER'S TOWEL OFFER: Just like the towels
professional hitchhikers carry!
NO TEA: Just like the tea professional hitchhikers don't carry!
MICROSCOPIC SPACE FLEET: Just the thing for attacking microscopic
civilizations. Fear no amoeba!****
( Subhead)
How much would YOU pay now? ONE HUNDRED Altairian dollars? TWO
HUNDRED?? THREE HUNDRED??!!
Date:
Number:
Page:
6/18/84
INFP3-1064
8
(Trademark information)
J00 JANTA 200 SUPER-CHROMATIC is a trademark of Sensory Deprivation
Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MegaCorp.
(Footnotes)
*** Not recommended for driving.
**** Just between us, your microscopic space fleet may not be--okay,
isn't— in its handy carrying case. We're afraid that our stockboy,
Lafe, got rather clumsy with his tweezers. Relatives of deceased crew
members are currently being notified. At any rate, your friends need
never know!
(Back cover)
JUST $59.99!*****
(Copy)
That's right! RUSH YOUR ORDER NOW and receive The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy AND the fluff AND the destruct orders AND the Don't
Panic! button AND the sunglasses AND the towel offer AND the space
fleet AND no tea ALL FOR THE INCREDIBLY LOW, LOW PRICE OF JUST $59.99!
That's less than you'd pay for the Encylcopedia Galactica !
To save C.O.D., handling charges and Imperial Galactic Government
delivery service bribes, PHONE IN YOUR ORDER TODAY!
Date:
6/18/84
Number:
Page:
INFP3-1064
9
(Subhead)
Operators are standing by!
(Copy)
Call 1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555. That's 1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555.
Here's that number one more time: 1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555. On Ursa
Minor Beta, dial 1-5-555-55-55555-555-5555, ext. 5. MAKE THAT CALL
TODAY!
(Subhead)
This offer NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY STORE !******
(Footnotes)
***** Payable in Altairian nickels the size of wagon wheels. ******
Except Deluxe-O-Mat, Chain-O-Rama, Fluff King, Qwang's Drive-in
Asteroid, Fluff Master, House of Remainders, Liquidator's
Clearinghouse, Mister Fluff, Fluff-n-Such, Fluff Fair, Galaxy o'
Fluff, 1-A Fluff Sales & Service, Ye Olde Fluffe Shoppe and MegaMart
outlets throughout the Universe.
G/R Copy
Approved Copy
G!il j
job
1 i
L) i
Giardini/Russell inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
Infocom
Client: >
Title: HITCHHIKER'S Brows 1e Manual
7/12/84
Date:
Number: I NFP 3-1064
R2
(Front cover)
HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU??
Now see the Universe the safe, sure, money-saving way with THE
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!
(Snipe)
As seen on Tri-D!
(Megadodo Publications logo)
(Inside #1)
Yes! The Universe can be yours for less than 30 Altairian dollars per
day!
(Copy)
BLACK HOLES. SAVAGE ALIEN WARRIOR TRIBES. Welfare planets RULED BY
DRY-CLEANING ESTABLISHMENTS, where even the most basic of human
necessities are provided for A DAY LATE AND WITH TOO MUCH STARCH.
Face It, the Universe is NO PLACE TO TRY AND HAVE A GOOD TIME.
G/R
Unless, that is, you're the PROUD OWNER of that wholly remarkable
object. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy !
Within the MILLION-PLUS PAGES of The Guide , which in many corners of
the Galaxy has already supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the
STANDARD REPOSITORY OF ALL KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM, you'll find
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the Universe, from the utmost trivia
to the most VITAL INFORMATION pertaining to your health and well-
being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEE IT WILL TEACH YOU how to survive
and even ENJOY the Universe— all on ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample of The Guide 's MILLIONS OF
USES and, like so many other satisfied customers, you'll be convinced
that this is truly THE MOST WHOLLY REMARKABLE ITEM you'll ever buy!
("Millions of Uses" section)
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The Guide show you how to get the best
rates and accommodations on exclusive vacation paradises like
Vortaqtia, planet of the Heart-Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has all the answers, as well as most of the
questions. For example: What titles comprise Oolon Colluphid's
trilogy of philosophical blockbusters? Answer: Where God Went Wrong,
Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This God Person,
Anyway?
Date:
Number:
Page:
7/12/84
INFP 3-1064
2
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
7/12/84
INFP3-1064
3
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide knows where to find all the swankiest
hotels, the trendiest restaurants, the swingingest nightclubs, the
friendliest escort services and the cheapest duty-free shops in which
to buy gifts for appeasing one's family and conscience!
NEEO HELP FAST? In a flash. The Guide can supply you with such useful
tidbits of information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara from a
Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant; what to do if Aunt Clara has been
devoured by a Seven -Stomached Gorba Plant; how to perform the Heimlich
Maneuver on a Seven -Stomached Gorba Plant, and much, much more!
(Footnote)
*"30 Altairian Dollars Per Day" is an estimated figure and is provided
strictly for purposes of comparison. Actual expenses may be higher.**
**In fact, we're sure of it. Quite frankly, if you're not absolutely
prepared to lie, cheat, steal your food, pass rubber checks to
unsuspecting hotel clerks, hoodwink customs officials, forge passports
entitling you to diplomatic immunity, utilize bogus student and/or
elderly identification cards to get yourself into tourist attractions
at reduced rates, stiff everyone possible on tips and otherwise make a
mockery of Intergalactic Law, just about the only way you're going to
get by on 30 Altairians per diem is by staying home and camping out In
your own backyard.
7/12/84
INFP3-106
4
(Inside #2)
And that's not all!
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
(Copy)
The Guide is more than a SUPER TRAYELOGUE or an INCREDIBLE ANSWER
MACHINE— it's a LOVELY ADDITION TO ANY BACKPACK OR SUITCASE that FITS
IN PERFECTLY WITH EVERY DECOR. It comes in a wrinkle-proof, scratch-
resistant plastic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
handsomely inscribed with the words DON'T PANIC in large, friendly
letters. And TALK ABOUT HANDY— The Mark IV version of The Guide has
MORE OPTIONS THAN A 20-ARMED HRUGMUS HAS HANGNAILS! Just LOOK WHAT
YOU CAN GET...
("More Options Than A 20-Armed Hrugmus Has Hangnails") 73-FUNCTION
POCKET CALCULATOR OPTION lets you solve equations ifhat have baffled
mathematicians for eons, such as how to travel faster than the speed
of light without losing your luggage.
CUSTOM CHRONOMETER displays year, month, day and date, to within a
fraction of a sluub in civilian time and military time and Happy Hour
Time for the nearest pub in the Galaxy.
OPTIONAL TAN-O-MATIC REFERENCE TABLE tells you the exact coordinates
of all the best beaches, the most up-to-date fashion tips on polarized
G/R
eyewear and reflectors, the precise length of time you can sunbathe
before your friends have to carry you home In an urn, and the
appropriate level of sunscreen to wear in case of a supernova.
OPTIONAL SIRIUS CYBERNETICS BAROMETER/NEO-DESCARTIAN RELATIVE TRUTH
MONITOR indicates temperature, barometric pressure, high tide, low
tide, wind direction and velocity, prevailing weather conditions,
amount of precipitation in the last 1,000 sluubs and whether you're
actually experiencing any of it or are simply being deceived by your
imperfect senses.
SALAD-SLASHER FOOD PROCESSOR/LEMON ZESTER ATTACHMENT slices, dices,
chops and bludgeons even the most rubbery fruit or vegetable in
seconds!
(Burst)
Actual size!
(Callouts)
E-Z Press Buttons (standard)
5 5/8-meef Screen (standard)
73-function Pocket Calculator (optional)***
Custom Chronometer Feature (optional)***
Date:
Number:
Page:
7/12/84
INFP3-1064
5
Date:
Number:
Page:
Tan-O-Matic Reference Table (optional)***
Sirius Cybernetics Barometer/Neo-Oescartian Relative
Truth Monitor (optional)***
SALAD-SLASHER Attachment (optional)***
(Footnote)
*** All optional features subject to availability and our total
unwillingness to turn a perfectly good product into some kind of
glorified all-purpose appliance for every gizmo-happy customer who
happens to fall for this type of cheap swank.
(Inside #3)
But wait... there's more!
(Copy)
Now for a LIMITED TIME ONLY when you RUSH your Hitchhiker's Guide to
thejaalaxy order to Megadodo Publications, you'll also get as our
SPECIAL 6IFT to you EN0U6H THROW-IN ITEMS TO FILL AN ATTIC! So ACT
NOW and receive all these FABULOUS BONUSES!
("Enough Throw-In Items To Fill An Attic!" section)
FLUFF: Goes anywhere — under the bed, behind the commode, at the
bottom of your pocket, inside your navel!
7/16/84
INFP3-1064
6
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
7/16/84
I NFP 3-1064
7
DE STRUCT ORDERS FOR YOUR HOME AND PLANET: Suitable for framing, and
great gag gifts at any party!
DON'T PANIC! BUTTON: Perfect for those times when your planet is being
bombarded by laser beams, your toaster starts talking to you and
traces of radioactivity are discovered in your breakfast cereal!
000 JANTA 200 SUPER-CHROMATIC PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES****: You'll
look cool and stay cool even when attending a Vogon poetry reading!
NO TEA: Oust like the tea professional hitchhikers don't carry!
MICROSCOPIC SPACE FLEET: Oust the thing for attacking microscopic
civilizations.
(Subhead)
How much would YOU pay now? ONE HUNDRED Altairian dollars? TWO
HUNDRED?? THREE HUNDRED?? ! !
(Footnotes)
**** Not recommended for driving.
(Back cover)
OUST DA59.99!
G/R
Date:
Number:
Page:
7/16/84
INFP3-1064
8
(Copy)
4 •
That's right! RUSH YOUR ORDER NOW and receive The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy AND the fluff AND the destruct orders AND the Don't
Panic! button AND the sunglasses AND the space fleet AND no tea ALL
FOR THE INCREDIBLY LOW, LOW PRICE OF JUST DA59.99!
To save C.O.D., handling charges and Imperial Galactic Government
delivery service duties, PHONE IN YOUR ORDER TODAY!
(Subhead)
Operators are standing by!
(Copy)
Call 1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555. On Ursa Minor Beta, dial
1-5-555-55-55555-555-5555, ext. 5. MAKE THAT CALL TODAY!
(Subhead)
This offer NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY STORE!*****
(Footnotes)
***** Except Deluxe-O-Mat, Chain-O-Rama, Qwang's Drive-In Asteroid,
Tawdry Merchandise King, House of Remainders, Liquidator's
Clearinghouse, Mister Tawdry, Galaxy o' Tawdry Merchandise, Tawdry
Merchandise-n-Such, 1-A Tawdry Sales & Service, Ye Olde Tawdry
Merchandise Shoppe and MegaMart outlets throughout the Universe.
HIKER'S GUI
Megadodo Publications
SBB
>Mb
.NOW SEE THE UNIVERSE THE SAFE
mmmgimi &h
YESI THE UNIVERSE <
LESS THAN 30 ALTAR I
BLACK HOLES. SAVAGE ALIEN WARRIOR
TRIBES. Welfare planets ruled by dry-clean-
ing establishments, where even the most
basic of human necessities are provided for
a day late and with too much starch. Face it,
the Universe is NO PLACE TO TRY AND
HAVE A GOOD TIME.
Unless, that is, you’re the proud owner
of that wholly remarkable object, The Hitch-
hiker's Guide to the Galaxy*
Within the million-plus pages of The
Guide, which in many corners of the Galaxy
has already supplanted the Encyclopedia
Galactica as the standard repository of all
knowledge and wisdom, you’ll find EVERY-
THING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the
Universe, from the utmost trivia to the most
vital information pertaining to your health
and well-being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY
GUARANTEE it will teach you how to survive
and even ENJOY THE UNIVERSE— ALL
ON ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample
of The Guide’s MILLIONS OF USES and,
like so many other satisfied customers, you’ll
be convinced that this is truly THE MOST
WHOLLY REMARKABLE ITEM YOU’LL
EVER BUY!
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The
Guide show you how to get the best rates
and accommodations on exclusive vacation
paradises like Vortaqua, planet of the Heart-
Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has
the answers, as well as
most of the questions. For
example: What titles
comprise Oolon
Colluphid’s trilogy
of philosophical
blockbusters?
J
HE UNIVERSE CAN BE YOUR!
IN 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS 1
tRRIOR
^-clean-
lost
Jed for
: aceit,
iND
rner
Hitch-
Balaxy
edia
Galactica as the standard repository of all
knowledge and wisdom, you’ll find EVERY-
THING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the
Universe, from the utmost trivia to the most
vital information pertaining to your health
and well-being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY
GUARANTEE it will teach you how to survive
and even ENJOY THE UNIVERSE— ALL
ON ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample
of The Guide’s MILLIONS OF USES and,
like so many other satisfied customers, you’ll
be convinced that this is truly THE MOST
WHOLLY REMARKABLE ITEM YOU’LL
EVER BUY!
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The
Guide show you how to get the best rates
and accommodations on exclusive vacation
paradises like Vortaqua, planet of the Heart-
Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has
all the answers, as well as
most of the questions. For
, „>' X example: What titles
CJ \ comprise Oolon
^ Colluphid’s trilogy
% ^\ x of philosophical
\
blockbusters?
n
Answer: Where God Went Wrong , Some More
of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This
God Person, Anyway?
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide
knows where to find all the swankiest hotels,
file trendiest restaurants, the swingingest
nightclubs, the friendliest escort services
and the cheapest duty-free shops in which to
buy gifts for appeasing one’s family and
conscience!
NEED HELP FAST? In a flash, The Guide
can supply you with such useful tidbits of
information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara
|froma
I to do if
jSeven-
perforr
Stoma
much i
*•*30 Attatrk
strictly for)
••Intact,**'
to tie, chea
darks, hoc
matte immi
to get your
possible a
about thee
isbystayir
1
CAN BE YOURS FOR
AN DOLLARS PER DAYI
Answer: Where God Went Wrong, Some More
of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This
God Person, Anyway?
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide
knows where to find all the swankiest hotels,
the trendiest restaurants, the swingingest
nightclubs, the friendliest escort services
and the cheapest duty-free shops in which to
buy gifts for appeasing one’s family and
conscience!
NEED HELP FAST? In a flash, The Guide
can supply you with such useful tidbits of
information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara
from a Seven-Stomached Gorba Rant; what
i to do if Aunt Clara has been devoured by a
| Seven-Stomached Gorba Rant; how to
perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a Seven-
Stomached Gorba Plant, and much,
much more!
*“3G Altairian Dollars Per Day" is an estimated figure and ie provided
strictly lor purposes of comparison. Actual expenses may be higher.**
'••In fact, we’re sure of it. Quite frankly, if you’re not absolutely prepared
i to fie. cheat, steal your food, pass rubber checks to unsuspecting hotel
clerks, hoodwink customs officials, forge passports entitling you to dipto-
'( matic immunity, utihze bogus student and/or etoerty KJentification cards
to get yourself into tourist attractions at reduced rates, stiff everyone
possible on tips and otherwise make a mockery of Interga lactic Law, just
! about the only way you're going to get by on 30 Attairians per diem
is by staying home and camping out in your own backyard.
AND THAT’S NOT ALU
73-FUNCTION POCKET CALCULATOR OP-
TION lets you solve equations that have
mShemat^da^ for eons, such as how to travel
faster than the speed of light without losing
your luggage.
OPTIONAL TAN-O-MATIC REPERENCETASLE
tells you the exact coordinates of all the test
beaches, the most up-to-date fashion tips on
teac^l^l^h^nSt'i^to-dateteshionhiKCTi
friends have to carry you home in an urn, and
the appropriate level of sunscreen to wear in
case of a supernova.
uaoo vi va
OPTIONAL SIRIUS CYBERNETICS L
TFR/NEO-DESCARTIAN RELATIVE TRUTn
MONITOR indicates temperature, barometric
oressure high tide, low tide, wind direction and
velocity prevailing weather conditions, amount
d&S inthe last 1,000 sluubs > and
whether you’re actually experiencing any of u °
are simply being deceived by your imperfect
senses.
seiK>ea.
chops and bludgeons even the most rubbery
fruit or vegetable in seconds:
i E-Z Press Buttons
^ (standard)
73-function
Pocket Calculator (optional)***
• Custom Chronometer Feature /
(optional)*** (T,
i Tan-O-Matic
| Reference Table (optional)*
Sirius Cybernetics Barometer/Neo-Descartian
Relative Truth Monitor (optional)***
tvelogue or an incredible answer machine — it’s a lovely
se that fits in perfectly with every decor. It comes in a
istic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
ds DON'T PANIC in large, friendly letters. And talk about
e Guide has MORE OPTIONS THAN A 20-ARMED
jst look what you can get . . .
year,
ion of a
and Happy
Balaxy.
ICE TABLE
lebest
i tips on
precise
re your
urn, and
wear in
73-function
Pocket Calculator (optional)***
; Custom Chronometer Feature
(optional)***
OROP-
ive baffled
<v to travel
losing
E-Z Press Buttons
^ (standard)
3AROME-
TRUTH
'ometric
jction and
5, amount
sand
any of it or
perfect
►or/
es, dices,
rubbery
Tan-O-Matic
Reference Table (optional)***
I AND THAT’S NOT ALU
The Guide is more than a super travelogue or an incredible answer machine — it s a lovely
addition to any backpack or suitcase that fits in perfectly with every decor. It comes in a
wrinkle-proof, scratch-resistant plastic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
handsomely inscribed with the words DON'T PANIC in large, friendly letters. And talk about
handy— The Mark IV version of The Guide has MORE OPTIONS THAN A 20-ARMED
HRUGMUS HAS HANGNAILS! Just look what you can get . . .
73-FUNCTION POCKET CALCULATOR OP-
TION lets you solve equations that have baffled
mathematicians for eons, such as how to travel
faster than the speed of light without losing
your luggage.
CUSTOM CHRONOMETER displays year,
month, day and date, to within a fraction of a
sluub in civilian time and military time and Happy
HourTime for the nearest pub in the Galaxy.
OPTIONAL TAN-O-MATIC REFERENCE TABLE
tells you the exact coordinates of all the best
beaches, the most up-to-date fashion tips on
polarized eyewear and reflectors, the precise
length of time you can sunbathe before your
friends have to carry you home in an urn, and
the appropriate level of sunscreen to wear in
case of a supernova.
OPTIONAL SIRIUS CYBERNETICS BAROME-
TER/NEO-DESCARTIAN RELATIVE TRUTH
MONITOR indicates temperature, barometric
pressure, high tide, low tide, wind direction and
velocity, prevailing weather conditions, amount
of precipitation in the last 1,000 sluubs and
whether you’re actually experiencing any of it or
are simply being deceived by your imperfect
senses.
SALAD-SLASHER FOOD PROCESSOR/
LEMON ZESTER ATTACHMENT slices, dices,
chops and bludgeons even the most rubbery
fruit or vegetable in seconds!
Sirius Cybernetics Barometer/Neo-Descartian
Relative Truth Monitor (optional)***
BUT WAI T... THERE’S M
Now for a LIMITED TIME ONLY when you RUSH your Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy order
to Megadodo Publications, you’ll also get as our SPECIAL GIFT to you ENOUGH THROW-
IN ITEMS TO FILL AN ATTIC! So act now and receive all these fabulous bonuses!
FLUFF: Goes anywhere — under the bed,
behind the commode, at the bottom of your
pocket, inside your navel!
DESTRUCT ORDERS
FOR YOUR HOME
AND PLANET: Suitable for
framing, and great gag gifts at any party!
DON'T PANIC! BUTTON: Perfect for those
times when your planet is being bombarded by laser beams, your
toaster starts talking to you and traces of radioactivity are discovered
in your breakfast cereal!
T
..THERE’S MORE!
' VW i m*A -w vii«
* *?>'• Vv#
» I. JJfc ij Lg
JSH your Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy order
our SPECIAL GIFT to you ENOUGH THROW
id receive all these fabulous bonuses!
* * . a . • Goes anywhere— under the bed,
behind the commode, at the bottom of your
pocket, inside your navel!
IC! BUTTON: Perfect for those
is being bombarded by laser beams, your
you and traces of radioactivity are discovered
p
JOO JANTA
SUPER-CHRO
PERIL-SENSITIVE SU
You’ll look cool and stay cool even when att<
NO TEA: Just like the tea
[professional [hitchhikers don’t carry!
MICROSCOPIC
SPACE FLEET:
I Just the thing for attacking
microscopic civilizations.
•*** Not recommended for driving.
HOW MUCH WOULD
YOU PAY NOW?
ONE HUNDRED ALTAIRIAh
TWO HUNDRED? THREE HI
mm
HOW MUCH WOULD
YOU PAY NOW?
LORE!
BMwpWI P i i hjjp
JOO JANTA 200
SUPER-CHROMATIC
PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES:
You’ll look cool and stay cool even when attending a Vogon poetry reading!
>****
NO TEA: Just like the tea
S professional j hitchhikers don’t carry!
MICROSCOPIC
SPACE FLEET:
I Just the thing for attacking
microscopic civilizations.
Not recommended tor driving.
OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY!
Call 1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555.
On Ursa Minor Beta, dial
1-5-555-55-55555-555-5555, ext. 5.
MAKE THAT CALL TODAY!
THIS OFFER NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY STORE!
*****
Except Ch^-0-R.m.. j T «w*y
Mister Tawdry, Galaxy o’ Tawdry Merchandise, Tawdry Merchandiae-n-Such. 1-A Tawdry sates a service, tb uiue *<*«'-** r
MegaMart outlets throughout the Universe.
JUST DA59.99I
4
That’s right! RUSH YOUR ORDER NOW and receive The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
and the fluff and the destruct orders and the Don’t Panic! button and the sunglasses and tl
space fleet and no tea ALL FOR THE INCREDIBLY LOW, LOW PRICE OF JUST DA59.9!
To save c.o.d., handling charges and Imperial Galactic Government delivery service
duties, PHONE IN YOUR ORDER TODAY!
IS ARE STANDING BY!
1-555-55-5-55555-555-5555.
)n Ursa Minor Beta, dial
5-55-55555-555-5555, ext. 5.
FH AT CALL TODAY!
I NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY STORE! —
Drive-In Asteroid, Tawdry Merchandise King, House of Remainders. Liquidator’s Clearinghouse,
wdry Merchandise-n-Such, 1-A tawdry Sales & Service, Ye Otde Tawdry Merchandise Shoppe and
r DA59.99!
:R NOW and receive The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
lers and the Don’t Panic! button and the sunglasses and the
THE INCREDIBLY LOW, LOW PRICE OF JUST DA59.99!
es and Imperial Galactic Government delivery service
R TODAY!
S/1// cr /2J-
mghouse.
Shoppe and
//V^j
HOW MANY Tl
HAS THIS HAPPi
■HTO YOU7J
HOW MANY TIMES
IAS THIS HAPPENED
NOW SEE THE UNIVERSE THE SAFE,
!URE, MONEY-SAVING WAY WITH THE
IITCIZhIKER'S GUIDE m THE GALAXY!
ublicaiions
Megadodo
YES! THE UNIVERSE
LESS THAN 30 ALTAIR
BLACK HOLES. SAVAGE ALIEN WARRIOR
TRIBES. Welfare planets ruled by dry-clean-
ing establishments, where even the most
basic of human necessities are provided for
a dav late and with too much starch. Face it,
the Universe is NO PLACE TO TRY AND
HAVE A GOOD TIME.
Unless, that is, you’re the proud owner
of that wholly remarkable object, The Hitch-
hiker's Guide to the Galaxyl
Within the million-plus pages of The
Guide , which in many corners of the Galaxy
has already supplanted the Encyclopedia
Galactica as the standard repository of all
knowledge and wisdom, you’ll find EVERY-
THING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the
Universe, from the utmost trivia to the most
vital information pertaining to your health
and well-being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY
GUARANTEE it will teach you how to survive
and even ENJOY THE UNIVERSE— ALL
ON ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample
of The Guide's MILLIONS OF USES and,
like so many other satisfied customers, you I!
be convinced that this is truly THE MOST
WHOLLY REMARKABLE ITEM YOU LL
EVER BUY!
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The
Guide show you how to get the best rates
and accommodations on exclusive vacation
paradises like Vortaqua, planet of the Heart-
Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has
all the answers, as well as
most of the questions. For
example: What titles
comprise Oolon
CoHuphid’s trilogy
of philosophical
blockbusters?
iftvWHi
t
t
I
i
THE UNIVERSE CAN BE YOU
AN 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLAR!
the most
provided for
rch. Face It,
RYAND
id owner
The Hitch
WARRIOR Galactica as the standard repository of all
Y drv-clean- knowledge and wisdom, you’ll find EVERY-
THING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the
Universe, from the utmost trivia to the most
vital information pertaining to your health
and well-being. WE UNCONDITIONALLY
GUARANTEE it will teach you how to survive
and even ENJOY THE UNIVERSE — ALL
ON ONLY 30 ALTAIRIAN DOLLARS PER
DAY!* Just take a peek at this mere sample
of The Guide's MILLIONS OF USES and,
like so many other satisfied customers, you’ll
be convinced that this is truly THE MOST
WHOLLY REMARKABLE ITEM YOU’LL
EVER BUY!
PLANNING A HONEYMOON? Let The
Guide show you how to get the best rates
and accommodations on exclusive vacation
paradises like Vortaqua, planet of the Heart-
Shaped Hot Tub Lakes!
TRIVIA BUFF? The Guide has
all the answers, as well as
most of the questions. For
example: What titles
comprise Oolon
CoHuphid’s trilogy
>f The
the Galaxy
vlopedia
Answer: Where God Went Wrong, Some More
of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This
God Person, Anyway?
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide
knows where to find all the swankiest hotels,
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and the cheapest duty-free shops in which to
buy gifts for appeasing one’s family and
conscience!
NEED HELP FAST? In a flash, The Guide
can supply you with such useful tidbits of
information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara
fr<
to
Si
P<
Si
m
♦“3
str
**Jn
to
ck
rru
to
pc
at
is
of philosophical
. blockbusters?
|pg| ,
CAN BE YOURSJFOR
AN DOLLARS PER DAY!
Answer: Where God Went Wrong, Some More
of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This
God Person, Anyway?
CONVENTION COMING UP? The Guide
knows where to find all the swankiest hotels,
the trendiest restaurants, the swingingest
nightclubs, the friendliest escort services
and the cheapest duty-free shops in which to
buy gifts for appeasing one’s family and
conscience!
NEED HELP FAST? In a flash, The Guide
can supply you with such useful tidbits of
information as: how to tell your Aunt Clara
from a Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant; what
to do if Aunt Clara has been devoured by a
Seven-Stomached Gorba Plant; how to
perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a Seven-
Stomached Gorba Plant, and much,
much more!
♦"30 Altairian Dollars Per Day” is an estimated figure and
strictly for purposes of comparison. Actual expenses may be htghe
**ln fact we're sure of it. Quite frankly, if you're not absciute^prepared ,
t lua Ikpnt steal vour food, pass rubber checks to unsuspecting hote
SToms officials, forge passports entitling youtod.pto-
matic immunHv utilize bogus student and/or elderly identification ca. d
to oet vourseif mto tourist attractions at reduced rates . stiff everyone
Sfflbte oXs^ and otherwise make a mockery of Intergalactic Law. just
£boot the onlyway you’re going to get by on 30 AKairiansper d.e
is by staying home and camping out in your own backya
mm
mm
AND THAT’S NOT ALU
The Guide is more than a super travelogue or an incredible answer machine— it’s a lovely
addition to any backpack or suitcase that fits in perfectly with every decor. It comes in a
wrinkle-proof, scratch-resistant plastic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
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HRUGMUS HAS HANGNAILS! Just look what you can get . . .
73-FUNCTION POCKET CALCULATOR OP-
TION lets you solve equations that have baffled
mathematicians for eons, such as how to travel
faster than the speed of light without losing
your luggage.
CUSTOM CHRONOMETER displays year,
month, day and date, to within a fraction of a
sluub in civilian time and military time and Happy
HourTime for the nearest pub in the Galaxy.
OPTIONAL TAN-O-MATIC REFERENCE TABLE
tells you the exact coordinates of all the best
beaches, the most up-to-date fashion tips on
polarized eyewear and reflectors, the precise
length of time you can sunbathe before your
friends have to carry you home in an urn, and
the appropriate level of sunscreen to wear in
case of a supernova.
OPTIONAL SIRIUS CYBERNETICS BAROME-
TER/NEO-DESCARTIAN RELATIVE TRUTH
MONITOR indicates temperature, barometric
pressure, high tide, low tide, wind direction and
velocity, prevailing weather conditions, amount
of precipitation in the last 1,000 sluubs and
whether you’re actually experiencing any of it or
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senses.
SALAD-SLASHER FOOD PROCESSOR/
LEMON ZESTER ATTACHMENT slices, dices,
chops and bludgeons even the most rubbery
fruit or vegetable in seconds!
Tan-O-Matic
j Reference Table (optional)***
Relative Truth Monitor (optional)***
E-Z Press Buttons
(standard)
Custom Chronometer
Feature (optional)***
73-function
Pocket Calculator (optional)***
*** l
t
£
t
lAT’S NOT ALL!
avelogue or an incredible answer machine — it’s a lovely
ise that fits in perfectly with every decor. It comes in a
astic cover with THE LOOK AND FEEL OF REAL VINYL,
>rds DON’T PANIC in large, friendly fetters. And talk about
?e Guide has MORE OPTIONS THAN A 20 -ARMED
ust look what you can get . . .
FOR OP-
ave baffled
m to travel
losing
E-Z Press Buttons
(standard)
i year,
tion of a
5 and Happy
Galaxy.
73-function
Pocket Calculator (optional)***
SICE TABLE
he best
i tips on
i precise
>re your
urn, and
wear in
Custom Chronometer
Feature (optional)***
BAROME-
TRUTH
rometric
action and
s, amount
sand
any of it or
perfect
>OR/
es, dices,
rubbery
5 5/8-meef Screen
(standard)
ah optional features subject to availability and our total unwillingness
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FLUFF:
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DESTRUCT ORDERS
FOR YOUR HOME i
AND PLANET:
Suitable for^
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DON'T PANIC! BUTTON: pSSI
times when your planet is being bombarded by laser beams
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i
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JAN1
ipSSpFsUPER-CHR
^PERIL-SENSITIVE SI
bull look cool and stay cool even when
NO TEA
Just like the tea^^j
professional hitchhikers don’t carry!
MICROSCOPIC
SPACE FLEET: *
Just the thing for attacking!
microscopic civilizations. M
Not recommended tor driving.
Howmic
PANIC! BUTTON:
ir planet is being bombarded by laser beams, your^J
liking to y ou and traces of rarfioactivityare dis^^ed
st cereal! MiiiliEyMBgBBBMBMMSBBMH
2
llWjdO JANTA 20<rWl
■^^SUPER-CHROMATICS
PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES
’ll look cool and stay cool even when attending a Vogon poeti
NO TEA* Just i7kethetea^|
[professional hitchhikers don’t carry?
MICROSCOPIC
SPACE FLEET: H
Just the thing for attacking 1
microscopic civilizations
*«** Not recommended tor driving.
HOW MUG
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Instruction
Manual for
THE
HITCHHIKER’S
GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY
• AMhO HKSWI.r
Instruction Manual for
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
Don’t Panic!
Relax, because everything you need to know
about playing THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY is contained in the pages of this
manual. In this story, you will be Arthur Dent, a
rather ordinary earth creature who gets swept up in
a whirlwind of interstellar adventures almost beyond
comprehension. As the story begins, bulldozers are
waiting to reduce your house to rubble to make way
for a motorway bypass. While you attempt to deal
with this problem, your rather strange friend Ford
Prefect drops by to tell you that the Earth is about to
be demolished to make way for an interstellar bypass!
If you survive this double threat, you’ll embark on a
senes of inter- galactic misadventures even funnier
than your worst nightmares! And. because anything
is possible in THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY, you may soon hot even be sure
of your own identity!
^ ■ you’re experienced with Infocom’s interactive
i*_aon, you may not fee! like reading the entire man-
ual. However, you should at least read the appen-
dices of important commands (on page 18) and
recognized verbs (on page 19). The sample tran-
script, on page 21, will give you ideas for some of
the weird things you can do in HITCHHIKER’S.
A special note for people who have read the book
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY :
Although the opening of the game is fairly similar
to the book, the story quickly diverges, with lots of
new 7 material and different twists. Familiarity with the
story may make a few of the early puzzles easier, but
if you rely too heavily on this previous knowledge,
you will certainly befuddle yourself.
Table of Contents
.An Overview’
• What is interactive fiction?
• Moving around
• Turns and scoring
Page 12
Tips for Novices
Nine useful pointers about interactive
fiction.
13
Communicating with HITCHHIKER’S
• Basic sentences
• Complex sentences
• Talking to characters in the story
• Vocabulary limitations
14
Starting and Stopping
• StartingHITCHHIKER’S
(“Booting Up”)
• Saving and restoring
• Quitting and restarting
16
Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide
This is a brief summary of the most
important things to know about inter-
active fiction. It is VITAL to know 7 all
these things before you begin playing.
17
Appendix B: Important Commands
18
Appendix C: Some Recognized Verbs
19
Appendix D: HITCHHIKER’S Complaints
20
Appendix E: Sample Transcript and Map
21
Appendix F: We’re Never Satisfied
24
Appendix G: If Abu Have Technical Problems
24
Appendix H: Author Biographies
25
Appendix I: Copyright and Warranty
Information
j
25
Instruction Manual 11
An Overview
Interactive fiction is a story in which yaw are the main
character, Your own thinking and imagination deter-
mine the actions of that character and guide the
story from start to finish.
m£i C £>o° rk of interactive . fiction, such as HITCH-
niftEK S, presents you with a series of locations
items, characters, and events. You can interact with
these in a variety of ways.
To move from place to nlace tvnp th a
surroundings by explor ing the nearby rooms and
thfmn^mrTvrD^c 011 carefuljiy - Oou may notice
that HITlHHIKER S occasionally refers to a loca-
tion as a room, even if you are outdoors.) As you
explore, it is helpful to make a map of the geography.
An important element of interactive fiction is
puzzle-solving. You should think of a locked door or
a ierocious beast not as a permanent obstacle, but
merely as a puzzle to be tackled. Solving puzzles will
irequen Jy involve bringing a certain item with you
and tiien using it in the proper way.
In. hi rCHHIKER’S, time passes only in response
to your input. You might imagine a clock that ticks
once for each sentence you type, and the story’ pro-
gresses only at each tick. Nothing happens until you
type a sentence and press the RETURN (or ENTER)
key , so you can plan your turns as slowly and care-
fully as you want.
To measure your progress, HITCHHIKER’S
keeps track of your score. You may get points for
solving nuzzles ^performing certain actions, or visit-
rng certain locations. Keeping track of what actions
increase your score will help you learn w’hat the goal
of the story is.
12 Instruction Manual
Tips for Novices
1. Draw a map. It should include each location, the
directions connecting it to other locations, and any
interesting objects there. (See the small sample map
that goes along with the sample transcript on page
21.) Note that there are 10 possible directions, plus
IN and OUT.
2. Most objects that you can pick up are important
for solving one or more of the puzzles you’ll run into
in the story.
3. Save your place often. That way, if you get “killed”
or hopelessly mucked up, you won’t have to start
over from the beginning. See page 16 for instructions.
4. Read the story carefully. There are often clues in
the descriptions of locations and objects, as well as in
labels, engravings, books, and so on. Even strange
or dangerous actions may provide clues, and might
prove to be fun! You can always save your position
first if you want. Here’s a silly example:
> GIVE THE TARNISHED COIN TO THE USHER
The usher looks unimpressed, and begins leading you
toward the last row of the theatre.
You’ve just learned there is something (such as the
crisp bill) which might convince the usher to give you
a front row T seat . . . perhaps even a front row seat
next to Queeh Isameera and her dreadfully expen-
sive and easy-to-steal diamond-studded tiara.
5. Unlike other “adventure games” that you may
have played, there are many possible routes to the
end of HITCHHIKER’S. Some puzzles have more
than one solution; others don't need to be solved at
all. Sometimes you will have to solve one puzzle in
order to obtain the item(s) or information you need
to solve another.
6. You may find it helpful to play HITCHHIKER’S
with another person. Different people may find
different puzzles easy and often complement each
other.
7. If you get really stuck, you can order a hint booklet
and a complete map using the order form in your
package. You don’t need this booklet to enioy the
story, but it will make solving HITCHHIKER’S
easier.
8. Read the sample transcript on page 21 to get a feel
for how Interactive fiction wo As.
9. You can word a command in many different ways.
For example, to put on the dressing gown, you could
use any of the foil owing:
PUT ON THE GOWN.
WEAR THE TATTY DRESSING GOWN.
DON GOWN.
In fact, if the gown is the only article of clothing
present, just typing WEAR is enough, since HITCH-
HIKER’S will assume you mean the gown. But more
about that in the next section
Instruction Manual 13
Communicating with HITCHHIKER’S
Ln HITCHHIKER’S, you type your sentence in plain
Engbsheach time you see the prompt (>). HITCH-
HIKER b usually acts as if your sentence begins
"I want to . . . although you shouldn’t actually type
those words. You can use words like “THE” if you
T Se letters y° u want;
HITC HHIKER S doesn t care either way.
When you finish typing a sentence, press the
RETURN (or ENTER) key. HITCHHIKER’S will re-
spond by telling you whether your request is possible
at this point in the story and what happened as a
result.
HITCHHIKER’S recognizes your words bv
their first six letters, and all subsequent letters are
ignored. Therefore, BULLDOg, BULLDOgs,
BULLDOzer, and BULLDOclqx>Sdngham (a small town
in Dockpokinghamshire) would all be treated as
the same word by HITCHHIKER’S.
To move around, just type the desired direction.
iou can use the eight compass directions: NORTH
SOUTH, EAST, WEST, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST’
SOUTHEAST, and SOUTHWEST. You can abbreviate
these to N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, and SW, respec-
tively. You can use UP (or U) and DOWN (or D). IN
and OUT will also work Ln certain places. On board a
ship, you’ll want to use the directions PORT (or P)
STARBOARD (or SB), FORE (or F), and AFT.
HITCHHIKER’S understands many different
kinds of sentences. Here are some examples. (Note
that some of these items do not actually appear in
HITCHHIKER’S.)
WALK NORTH
DOWN
NE
GO AFT
U
TAKE BOX
PICK UP THE CARDBOARD BOX
DROP IT
PUSH THE BUTTON
OPEN THE AIRLOCK DOOR
EXAMINE THE PRESSURE SUIT
LOOK UNDER THE TABLE
ENJOY THE RHODODENDRON BUSH
SHOOT THE BEAST WiTH THE PEA SHOOTER
ATTACK THE BUREAUCRAT WiTH THE COURT ORDER
PUT THE BANANA PEEL IN FRONT OF THE BEGGAR
'iou can use multiple objects with certain verbs if
you separate them by the word AND or by a comma.
Some examples:
TAKE PENCIL, PAPER, STAMP
DROP THE AMP, THE FORK, AND THE THERMO-
NUCLEAR WEAPON
PUT THE EGGS ANDTHE BACON IN THE
FRYING PAN
GIVE THE SHINY PENNY AND THE TARNISHED
PENNY TO THE MONKEY
The word ALL refers to every visible object except
those inside something else. If there were an apple
on the ground and an orange inside a cabinet, TAKE
ALL would take the apple but not the orange.
TAKE ALL
TAKE ALL STAMPS
TAKE ALL THE STAMPS EXCEPT THE RED STAMP
TAKE ALL FROM THE DESK
GIVE ALL BUT THE PENCILTOTHE ROBOT
DROP ALL EXCEPT THE PEA SHOOTER
i
14
Instruction Manual
You can include several sentences In one input
line if you separate them by the word THEN or by a
period. (Note that each sentence will still count as a
turn.) You don’t need a period at the end of the input
line. For example, you could tvpe all of the following
at once, before pressing the RETURN (or ENTER)
key:
EAST.TAKE THE GUN THEN PUT THE BULLET IN IT.
SHOOTGERTRUDE
If HITCHHIKER’S doesn’t understand one of the
sentences on your input line, or if something unusual
happens, it will ignore the rest of your input line (see
HJTC HHIKE R ’ S Complaints” on page 20).
There are three kinds of questions that HITCH-
HIKER’S understands: WHAT, WHERE, and WHO.
Here are examples that you can try in HITCH-
HIKER’S:
WHAT IS ADVANCEDTEA SUBSTITUTE?
WHERE IS THE TOWEL?
WHO ISZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX?
You will meet other people and creatures in
HITCHHIKER’S. You can Ttalk” to some of these
beings by typing their name, then a comma, then
whatever you want them to do. Here are some
examples:
BARTENDER, GIVE ME A BEER
FORD, OPEN THE SATCHEL
CAPTAIN, WHAT ABOUT THE METEOR HOLE?
FRED, TAKE THE TOWELTHEN FOLLOW ME
MARVIN, KILL THE ALIEN.ENTER THE CLOSET
Notice that in the last two examples, you are giving
a person more than one command on the same
input line.
You can use quotation marks to answer a question,
say something “out loud,” or type something on a
keyboard. For example:
SAY "HELLO”
ANSWER "ZEKE FITZBERRY"
TYPE "LOGOUT"
HITCHHIKER’S tries to guess what you really
mean when you don’t give enough information. For
example, if you say that you want to do something,
but not what you want to do it to or with, HITCH-
HIKER’S will sometimes decide that there is only
one possible object that you could mean. When it
does so, it will tell you. For example:
> SHOOT THE DOGGIE
(with the ray gun)
The cute little doggie is incinerated,
or
> GIVE THE TOWEL
(to the hitchhiker)
The hitchhiker naturally already has a towel, but thanks
you politely for your offer.
If your sentence is ambiguous, HITCHHIKER’S
vrill ask what you really mean. You can answer most
of these questions briefly by supplying the missing
information, rather than typing the entire input
again. You can do this only at the very next prompt.
Some examples:
>CUT THE BREAD
What do you want to cut the bread with?
>THE KNIFE
The bread is stale to the point of being petrified,
or
> KILL THE FLY WITH THE AXE
Whtch axe do you mean, the teensv axe or the atomic-
powered supersonic planet-smashing axe?
>TEENSY
The fly expires.
HITCHHIKER’S uses many words in its descrip-
tions that it will not recognize in your sentences. For
example, you might read, “Disgusting gobs of yellow
goo ooze out of the monster’s elbows.” However, if
HITCHHIKER’S doesn’t recognize the words GOO
or ELBOWS in your input, you can assume that they
are not important to your completion of the story 7 ,
except to proride you with a more vivid description
of where you are or what is going on. HITCH-
HIKER’S recognizes over 800 words, nearly all that
you are likely to use in your sentences. If HITCH-
HIKER’S doesn’t know a word you used, or any of
its common synonyms, you are almost certainly
trying something that is not important in continuing
the story.
&
Instruction Manual 15
Starting and Stopping
Starting the Story: Now that you know what to
expect when you venture into HITCHHIKER’S
to : boot " your &sk - To ioa ^ HITCH
HIKER S, follow the instructions on the Reference
Card m your package.
Following the copyright notice and the release
number of the story, you will see the opening
message.
Here are a couple of quick exercises to help
Slvl e D.c C ^ stome . d t0 intera ctmg with HITCH-
hiker b. iry typing the following next to the
prompt (>):
TURN ON THE LIGHT
P? c ss RETURN <or ENTER ) ke >’- HITCH-
HIKER S will respond with:
Good start to the day. Pity it's going to be the worst one
or your life. The light is now on.
\au will also now 7 see the descriotion of the Bed-
room, the opening location of the stone Try typing:
TAKE THE TATTY DRESSING GOWN
m^KS^ rENTER)key ’
You can't reach it from the bed. The effort of reaching is
a i most too much for you to stand.
Samng and Restonng: It will probably take vou many
days to complete HITCHHIKER’S. Using the SAVE
feature, you can continue at a later time without
.laving to start over from the beginning, just as vou
can piace a uookmark in a book you are reading'
>^A\ E puts a “snapshot” of your place in the story 7
onto another disk. If you are a cautious player, vou
may want to save your place before (or after) trying
something dangerous or tricky. That wav, vou can go
bacK to that position later, even If you have gotten
lost or Killed since then.
To save your place in the story 7 , type SAVE at the
prompt (>), and then follow the instructions for
saving and restoring on your Reference Card. Some
systems require a blank disk, initialized and formatted
or s<3res A; sing a disk with data on it (not counting
°f* ’ s saves) may result in the loss
of that data, depending on what kind of computer
you have.
^ou can restore a saved position any time you
want. To do so, type RESTORE at the prompt (>)
and follow the instructions on your Reference Card
iou can then continue the story 7 from the point
irw^/° U U f ed the . SAVE command. You can type
LOOK for a description of where you are.
Quitting and Restarting: If you want to start over
from the begimiing, type RESTART. (This is usually
Just to make sure, HITCH-
nJKEh b w 7 ^ ask if you really want to start over Lf
you do, type Y or YES.
If you want to stop entirely, type QUIT. On re
again, HITCHHIKER’S will ask if this is reallv~ w 7 hat
you want to do.
Remember when you RESTART or QUIT: if you
want to be able to return to your current position
you must first do a SAVE.
16 Instruction Manual
W&'Sr&iff 'Jsf- ■
*f£ .’* r5^ -■}» "
jpendtx A
aick Reference Guide
When you see the prompt (>) on your screen,
ITCHHIKER’S is waiting for your input. I here ^e
ur kinds of sentences or commands that ruiun-
IKER'S understands:
A. Direction commands: To move from piace to
nior-p mst tvpe the direction you want to go. N or
NORTH), E," §, W. NE, SE, NW SW. U (or UP).
D, IN, OUT, P (or PORT), SB, F, AFT.
R Actions* Tu«t tvpe whatever you want to do.
ti^Ktes: RtAD^E BOOKoj . OPENTHE
DOOR or LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOW.
Once vou’re familiar with simple commands, vou u
want to use more complexones as described tn
“Communicating with HITCHHIKER S on
page 14.
C Commands given to people: To talk to charac-
ters in the story type their name, then a comma,
then what vou want to say to them. For example.
r-\LPH, GIVE ME THE WELDING TORCH or
JUNG MAN, GO WEST.
D Special one -word comrriands such as INVEN-
TORY )r DIAGNOSE: A list of these appears m the
“Important Commands” appendix on page 1°-
3. Important! After typing
mand, you must press the RETURN (or ENTER) key
before HITCHHIKER’S will respond.
4. On most computers, your screen will have a spe-
cial line called the status line. It tells you the name : a f
your current location, your score, and the number of
turns vou have taken.
5. You can pick up and carry many of the items jmu »
find in the story. For example, if you ty^TAK-THE
SPOON, you will be carrying it. Type INVENiORY to
find out what you have .
6. When you want to stop playing, save yourpKcefor
later, or start over, read the “btartmg and Stopping
section on page 16.
7. If you have trouble playing, refer to the specific
section of the manual for more detailed instructions.
Instruction Manual 17
%
Appendix B
Important Commands
There are a number of one -word commands which
you can type instead of a sentence. You can use them
over and over as needed. Some count as a turn,
others do not. Type the command after the prompt
(>) and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key.
AGAIN— HITCHHIKER'S will usually respond as if
you had repeated your previous sentence. Among
the cases where AGAIN will not work is if you were
just talking to another character. You can abbreviate
AGAIN to G.
BRIEF—' This tells HITCHHIKER’S to give you the
full description of a location only the first time you
enter it. On subsequent visits, HITCHHIKER'S will
tell you only the name of the location and the objects
present. This is how HITCHHIKER’S will normally
act, unless you tell it otherwise using the VERBOSE
or SUPERBRIEF commands.
DIAGNOSE— HITCHHIKER’S will give you a brief
medical report of your physical condition.
FOOTNOTE— Occasionally, the text in HITCH-
HIKER'S will mention the existence of a footnote. To
read the footnote, simply type FOOTNOTE followed
by the appropriate footnote number (for example,
FOOTNOT E 7). This will not count as a turn.
INVENTORY-HITCHHIKER’S will list what you
have. You can abbreviate INVENTORY to I.
LOOK-This teHs HITCHHIKER’S to describe
your location in full detail. You can abbreviate LOOK
to L.
QUIT —This lets you stop. If you want to save your
position before quitting, follow the instructions in the
‘‘Starting and Stopping” section on page 16. You can
abbreviate QUIT to Q.
RESTART— This stops the story and starts it over
from the beginning.
RESTORE— This restores a saved position made
using the SAVE command. See “Starting and Stop-
ping” on page 16 for more details.
SAVE— This makes a “snapshot” of your current
position onto your storage disk. You can return to a
saved position in the future using the RESTORE com-
mand. See “Starting and Stopping” on page 16 for
more details.
SCORE— HITC. HHIKE R ’ S wiB show your curre nt
score arid the number of turns you have taken.
\
IS Instruction Manual
jj— This command tells your printer to begm
g a transcript of the story as you go along. A
:r ipt may aid your memoir but is not neces-
It will work only on certain computers, reuu
Reference Card for details.
: RBR»EF — This commands HITCHHIKER S lO
;v only the name of a place you have entered,
if you have never been there before. In this
HITCHHIKER'S will not even mention which
•t’ s present. Of course, you can always get a
notion of your location, and the items there, by
- LOOK. In SUPERBRSEF mode, the blank hne
reen toms will be eliminated. Tbs mode is
nt for plavers who already kjiow their "way
nd. Also see VERBOSE and BRIEF.
1CR1PT— Tbs commands your printer to stop
ing a transcript.
; BOSE -This tells HITCHHIKER’S that you _
: a complete description of each location, and the
•cts in it. every time you enter a location, even
u’ve been there before. Also see BRIEF and
fR BRIEF.
•SION —HITCHHIKER’S responds by showing
t release number and the serial number of
■ ■ jy of the story. Picsso include this iiLoriViS-
- if you ever report a “bug,”
• }f —This will cause time in the story to pass,
rmally, between turris, nothing happens in tine
.ry. You could leave your computer, have a snack,
- a walk around the block, btchbke to Prov-on
C spenc } fourteen years working in the dime pits,
I return to find that nothing has changed . iou can
e WAIT to make time pass in the story without
ng anything. For example, if you encounter an
en being, you could WAIT to see what it win c do.
- if you are in a moving vebde, you could WAiT .0
- where it will go. You can abbreviate WAIT to Z.
Appendix C
Some Recognized Verbs
These are oniv some of the verbs that HITCH-
HIKER’S understands. There are many more. Re-
member that you can use a variety of prepositions
with them. For example, LOOK cantecomeLOOK
in^de, look behind, look under, look
THROUGH, LOOK AT, and so on.
ANSWER EAT
approach enter
ASK
BLOCK
BUY
CARVE
CLIMB
CLOSE
ESCAPE
EXAMINE
EXIT
FILL
FIND
FOLLOW
CONNECT GIVE
CONSULT HANG
COVER
DANGLE
DESTROY
DRINK
DROP
HIDE
JUMP
KILL
KNOCK
LIE
LIGHT
LISTEN
LOOK
MOVE
PANIC
PULL
OPEN
PICK
PLUG
POINT
PUSH
PUT
REA.D
RELAX
REMOVE
SAY
SHOOT
SHOW
SIT
SLEEP
SMELL
STAND
TAKE
TASTE
THROW
TOUCH
TURN
TYPE
WAKE
WALK
Instruction Manual 19
j
V'C-A
Appendix D
HITCHHIKER'S Complaints
HITCHHIKER’S will complain if you type a sentence
that confuses it completely. HITCHHIKER’S will
then ignore the rest of the input line. (Unusual
events, such as being attacked, may also cause
HITCHHIKER’S to ignore the rest of the sentences
you typed, since the event may have changed your
situation drastically.) Some of HITCHHIKER’S’s
complaints:
I DONT KNOW THE WORD “(you r word).” The
word you typed is not in the story's vocabulary.
Sometimes using a svnonym or rephrasing will help.
If not, HITCHHIKER’S probably doesn’t know the
idea you were trying to get across.
YOU USED THE WORD “(your word)” IN AWAY
THAT 1 DONT UNDERSTAND. HITCHHIKER’S
knows the word you typed, but couldn’t use it in that
sense. Usually this is because HITCHHIKER’S
knows the word as a different part of speech. For
example, if you typed PRESS THE LOWER BUTTON,
you are using LOWER as an adjective, but HITCH-
HIKER’S might know LOWER only as a verb, as in
LOWER THE BOOM.
THAT SENTENCE ISNT ONE I RECOGNIZE. The
sentence you typed may have been gibberish, such
as GIVE TROLL WITH SWORD. Or, you may have
typed a reasonable sentence but used a syntax that
HITCHHIKER’S does not recognize, such as SMELL
UNDER THE ROCK. Try rephrasing the sentence.
THERE WAS NO VERB IN THAT SENTENCE! Unless
you are answering a question, each sentence must
have a verb (or a command) in it somewhere.
THERE SEEMS TO BE A NOUN MISSING IN THAT
SENTENCE! This usually means that your sentence
was incomplete, such as EAT THE BLUE.
THERE WERE TOO .MANY NOUNS IN THAT SEN-
TENCE. An example is PUT THE SOUP IN THE BOW'L
WITH THE LADLE, which has three noun “phrases,”
one more than HITCHHIKER'S can digest in a
single action.
YOU CANT USE MULTIPLE (IN) DIRECT OBJECTS
WITH “(your verb).” You can use multiple objects
(that is, nouns or noun phrases separated by AND or
a comma) or the word ALL only with certain verbs.
Among the more useful of these verbs are TAKE,
DROP, and PUT. .An example of a verb that wi 11 not
work with multiple objects is ATTACK; you couldn't
say ATTACK ALL or ATTACK THE ALIEN AND THE
ROBOT.
YOU CANT SEE ANY (object) HERE! The item you
referred to was not visible. It may be somewhere
else, inside a closed container, and so on.
THE OTHER OBJECT(S) THAT YOU MENTIONED
ISNT (AREN'T) HERE. You referred to two or more
items in the same sentence, and at least one of them
wasn’t visible to you in your present location.
BE SPECIFIC: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO (your verb)?
You used HIM, HER, or IT, but HITCHHIKER'S isn’t
sure what person or object you meant.
I BEG YOUR PARDON? You pressed the RETURN (or
ENTER) key without typing anything.
IT'S TOO DARK TO SEE! In the story, there 'was not
enough light to perform your action.
YOU CANT GO THAT WAY. There was no passage
or exit in the direction you tried to move.
%
20
Instruction Manual
■ * i -m x? ♦ ‘
pendix E
mple Transcript and Map
.s transcript is not from HITCHHIKER S, but it
show most of the things you can do in the sior> .
•on tains several simple puzzles and their solutions,
i it will give vou a good idea of how interactive
don works. The player’s sentences appear m capi-
le tters after each prompt ( > ). The map r epre-
its the terrain in the sample transcript as >ou
ght have drawn it.
TA0i-£
bp'PO CECMiC C'SICE
fix*
VT5\DE-
&LDOO
Si&b!
DoofL&£LL
WRIT) MS
r—
ROOM
1
-
I SrtSLU^
To T>Xl
_ . iZEET
‘jDF&BZ
T
jj taxj
GET OUT OF THE TAXI
e door is locked. „
Hey, that's four pounds thirty, o*d chop.
GIVE THE FIVE POUND NOTE TO THE DRIVER
ITanks, chum."
UNLOCK THE DOOR
ie toxi door is now' unlocked.
► GET OUT OF THE TAXI
treet Corner , , , A
ou ore on a street comer on the outskirts o. ^ondon. A
an pest reveals that you are on the comer of Foomin-
ter anc Frobbington. The sidewalk continues north and
•ast. Because of the heavy traffic here, crossing he
freet is out of the question.
> WHO AAA! (
You are Chester Smith, an unemployed granola
salesman.
> WHAT IS THE OBJECT OF THE GAME?
Well, the superficial object of the game is to get to the
end of the story and achieve the maximum score.
The real object of the game is to show a bunch of novices
how interactive fiction works.
> WALK NORTH
Outside Blood Bank
You ore in the middle of the block on a street that runs
north-south. Immediately to the east is he entrance to
a massive granite (Footnote 9) building. Next iO the
entrance is a sign and a doorbell.
> FOOTNOTE 9 . . ....
Well, concrete actually. We wanted a granite building
for the story, but w-e couldn't ctiord it because constr uct-
ing that giant spaceship for the Aldebaran Battle scene
took such o big bite out of he budget. But he concrete
IS covered with o plastic veneer hat does LOCK a iot
like granite.
> READ THE SIGN
“OUTSKIRTS OF LONDON BLOOD BANK: We pay
£30 for o Dint of blood. Painless, takes only an hour.
Rina doorbell for admittance.”
> EAST
Tne Blood Bank door is closed.
>OPEN IT
It's locked.
> RING THE DOORBELL
You already did hat, didn't you?
>NO IL
1 think you're wrong. I'm a computer, so 1 have a rea.ly
terrific memory, and I'm almost positive you ciready
rang he doorbell. Couldn't you be mistaken?
>NO
Hmmm . . . well, 1 just locked bock, and 1 guess you aidn t
nnc he doorbell after all. Do you still want to ring he
doorbell?
>YES . a
The be!! rings. A minute later, a stooped mar. opens tt .e
door and beckons you to enter.
Instruction Manual 21
> ENTER THE BLOOD 3ANK
Waiting Room
This is a dim room with exits to the east and west. A nar-
row, winding stair ieads downward. The room is sparsely
furnished with several uncomfortable-looking benches.
Tnere is no one waiting ahead of you. There is a botHe of
smelling salts here.
The stooped man slams the front door and bolts it.
"Please . . . have a seat. It will only be several . . .
minutes." He exits to the east.
> SIT DOWN
What do you want to sit down on?
> THE BENCH
You are now sitting on the bench.
> ENJOY THE BENCH
Easier said than done, considering how hard and
uncomfortable the bench is.
> TAKE THE BOTTLE OF SMELLING SALTS
You can't reach it from the bench.
>$TAND UP
You are on your own feet again.
>TAKE THE BOTTLE OF SMELLING SALTS
Your load is too heavy.
> INVENTORY
You have:
a briefcase
a suit
It looks like the suit contains:
a ten-pound note
a grapefruit
>OPEN THE BRIEFCASE
Opening the briefcase reveals an array of granola
samples.
> DROP THE GRAPEFRUIT THEN TAKE THE BOTTLE
OF SMELLING SALTS
Dropped.
Taken.
> WAIT
After all, what's a waiting room for? Time passes . . .
The stooped man enters, pushing a wheeibarrow full of
bones. You're no expert on the subject, but they sure
don't look like chicken bones. He spills the bones down
the winding stairway.
> WEST
The front door is closed.
>OPEN THE DOOR
Which door do you mean, the front door or the labora-
tory door?
> FRONT
It's bolted.
>LOOK
Waiting Room
This is a dim room with exits to the east and west. A nar-
row, winding stair leads downward, ihe room is sparsely
furnished with several uncomfortable-looking benches.
There is no one waiting ahead of you.
There is a grapefruit here.
The stooped man is here, pushing a wheelbarrow.
> STOOPED MAN, OPEN THE FRONT DOOR
"Who are you calling stooped? i've got a name you
know — Igor."
> IGOR, OPEN THE FRONT DOOR
Igor chuckles. "Don't be nervous. It's completely. . .
painless. There's nothing to worry about."
> IGOR, WHAT ABOUT THE BONES?
"Oh! Urn, they're just . . . fake bones . . . we use for the
. . . anatomy class on Wednesdays!"
A gaunt man emerges from the doorway to the east.
"Igor, bring in the next subject." He exits.
> BREAK DOWN THE STREET DOOR
This results in a very sore shoulder .
"If you'll just . . . step this way," says Igor, producing a
cattle prod.
> DON'T WALK EAST
You bravely hold your ground. Igor pokes you with the
prod. You feel less brave.
22 Instruction Manual
A/ALK EAST
Doratory
s is an even dimmer room filled with strange appa-
us. A person-sized table fills the center of the room,
s mad scientist is here, rubbing his hands.
Dr enters behind you and locks the door.
DON'T PANIC
u try your best. You fail.
he table . . . please lie down ... on the table, says
or, fondling the prod.
LIE DOWN ON THE TABLE
du are now lying on the table. The mad scientist quickly
tackles your wrists and ankles.
MAD SCIENTIST, LET ME GO
Who are you calling mad? They called me mad at
)xford also, but I'll show them 1 # ,
ne mad scientist produces a hypodermic needie hhed
nth a bubbling green fluid. He slowly inserts the needle
ito your arm. 'Ever/thing becomes dark and fuzzy. . .
>LOOK
iver/thing is dark and fuzzy.
> NORTH
f you recall, you passed out a rew moves ago.
; \GNOSE
f you recall, you passed out a few moves ago.
> LOOK AT ME
Everything is dark and fuzzy.
>WA1T
Time passes . . .
The fuzziness clears, and you find yourself in a strange
new location.
> OPEN THE MAILBOX
Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.
> INVENTORY
You have:
a briefcase
It looks like the briefcase contains:
an array of granola samples
a suit
It looks like the suit contains:
a ten-pound note
a bottle of smelling salts
> SMELL THE SMELLING SALTS
It smells just like the lid of a bottle of smelling salts.
>OPEN THE BOTTLE
Opened.
> SMELL THE SMELLING SALTS
The smell is overpowering. Your surroundings btur and
grow indistinct . . .
Laboratory
Sitting on the table are:
some bones
Sitting on your workbench is:
a hypodermic needle
a book
> IGOR, REMOVE THE BONES #
"Yes, master." Igor clears the table. There s another
subject waiting outside.
"Yes, master."
> WHO AM 1 , n .
You are Baron von Edeistein, the "Mad Professor of
Oxford."
>LOOK
West of House ,
You are stcnding in an open field west of a white nouse.
with a boarded front door .
There is a small mailbox here.
Instruction Manual 23
> EXAMINE THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE
It is filled with o bubbling green fluid., your identity
transfer serum.
> READ THE BOOK
(taking the book first)
The book is entitled "Who's Who in interactive Fiction
Sample Transcripts." It would take hours and hours to
read the whole thing; perhaps you'd like to consult the
book about a specific individual?
> CONSULT THE BOOK ABOUT ME
The entry about Baron von Edelstein reads, "A minor
and poorly deve’oped character in the HITCHHIKER'S
sample transcript."
Igor prods the subject into the room and onto the table.
> INJECT THE SUBJECT WITH THE SERUM
You're not holding the hypodermic needle.
>TAKE THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE
Taken.
> INJECT THE SUBJECT WITH THE SERUM
The subject, whom you forgot to shackle to the table,
pushes you away. In the ensuing struggle, you acciden-
tally inject yourself with the serum. Lights whir! around
your Head. Especially red, yellow, and green lights. The
lights slow down and finally stop whirling, and you real-
ize that . . .
Your taxi is stopped at a traffic light. It's been an hour
since your last fare. Suddenly, someone pulls open the
door and slides into the back seat. "Corner of Frob-
bington and Foominster, please."
Appendix F \
We’re Never Satisfied
Here at Infocom, we take great pride in the quality o;
our products, although all things being equal we’d \
rather lie on the beach than fix "bugs.” However,
even after our stones are “out the door,” we’re con- .
stantly improving, honing and perfecting.
Your feedback is important. No matter how much
testing we do, it seems that some“bugs”never crawl
into view until thousands of you begin doing all those
wild and crazy things to the story'. If you find a
“bug.” or if you think a certain puzzle was too hard
or too easy, or if you have some other suggestion, or
if you’d just like to tell us your opinion of the story,
drop us a note! We love every' excuse to stop work-
ing, and a letter from you is just such an excuse!
Write to:
Infocom, Inc.
55 Wheeler Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Attn: MARVIN
Appendix G
If You Have Technical Problems
You can call the Infocom Technical Support Team to
report “bugs” and technical problems, but not for
hints to solve puzzles, at (617) 576-3190. If your disk
develops a problem within 90 days after purchase,
we will replace it at no charge. Otherwise , there is a
replacement fee of $5.00 (U-S. currency). If you call
to report a “bug,” please provide your release num-
ber, which you can find by typing VERSION. Please
return your registration card if you’d like to be on our
m ailin g list and receive our newsletter, THE HEW
ZORK TIMES.
JY.
24
Instruction Manual
Appendix H
Author Biographies
Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams graduated from
Cambridge in 1974, where he was an active member
of the Footlights Club, which has launched the ca-
reers of many of Britain's great comics. He has col-
laborated on several projects with Monty Python’s
Graham Chapman, and has served as a writer and
script editor for the TV series “Dr. Who." THE
.HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY began
in 1978 as a BBC radio serial, and its popularity soon
propelled it into four books, a television series, two
records, and a stage show. Adams has the distinction
of being the number one entry (thanks to alphabeti-
cal order) In the “British Guide to Tall Zany Comic
Science Fiction Writers,” where his entry' reads
“Mostly harmless.”
Steven Meretzky. Steven Meretzky was born in
mid-1957, frightening the Soviet Union into the early
launching of its Sputnik satellite. Meretzky ’s gestalt
was shaped by a number of painful childhood experi-
ences. including rooting for the New York Mets. He
blames his interactive fiction on a combination of
growing up in Yonkers and studying at MIT. (We use
“studying” in the most general sense.) Meretzky
has never been a rutabaga farmer, and believes that
eating granola is a decision that should be left to the
Individual’s conscience. Meretzky now lives near
Boston, and has been working for Infocom since
1982 as an experimental alternative lifestyle to un-
employment. He apologizes for PLANE i FALL" and
sorcerer:
Appendix I
Copyright and Warranty Information
Limited Warranty
This software product and the attached instructional materials are sold
“AS IS,” without warranty as to their performance The entire risk as
to the quality and performance of the computer software program is
assumed by the user.
However, to the original purchaser of a disk prepared by Infocom and
earning the Infocom label on the disk jacket. Infocom, Inc. warrants
the medium on which the program is recorded to be free from defects in
materials and faulty workmanship under normal use and service fora
period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. If during this pe-
riod a defect on the medium should occur, the medium may be returned
to Infocom, Inc. or to an authorized Infocom. Inc. dealer, and Infocom.
Inc will replace the medium without charge to you. Your sole and exclu-
sive remedy in the event of a defect is expressly limited to replacement
of the medium as provided above.
THE .ABOVE WARRANTIES FOR GOODS ARE IN LIEU OF .ALL
WARRANTIES. EXPRESS, IMPLIED. OR STATUTORY. INCLUD-
ING. BUT NOT LIMITED TO, .ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
POSE .AND OF .ANY OTHER WARRANTY OBLIGATION ON THE
PART OF INFOCOM. INC. IN NO EVENT SHALL INFOCOM, INC.
OR .ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREA-
TION AND PRODUCTION OF THIS COMPUTER SOFTWARE
PROGRAM BE LLABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECLAL, OR CONSE-
QUENTIAL DAMAGES, SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO. LOSS
OF ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR BENEFITS RESULTING FROM
THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM. OR ARISING OUT OF ANY
BREACH OF THIS W ARRANTY SOME STATES DO NOT .ALLOW
THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSE-
QUENTIAL DAMAGES. SO THE .ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT
.APPLY TO YOU.
N.B. After the warranty period, a defective Infocom disk may be
returned to Infocom. Inc. with a check or money order for $5.00
fU S. currency) for replacement.
Copyright
The enclosed software product is copyrighted and ail rights are
reserved by Infocom. Inc. It is published exclusively by Infocom. Inc.
The distribution and sale of this product are Intended for the use of the
original purchaser only arid for use only on the computer system spe-
cified. Lawful users of this program are hereby licensed only to read the
program from its medium into memory of a computer solely for the
purpose of executing the program. Copying ; except for one backup
copy on those systems which provide for it — see Reference Card), du-
plicating, selling, or otherwise distributing this product is a violation of
the law.
This manual and ail other documentation, contained herein are copy-
righted and ail rights reserved by Infocom. Inc. These documents may
not. in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, trans-
lated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form
without poor written consent from Infocom, Inc.
Willful violations of the Copyright Law of the United States can result
in civil damages of up to $50,000 in addition to actual damages, pius
criminal penalties of up to one year imprisonment and: or $10. (KX) fine.
PL.ANETFALL and SORCERER are trademarks of Infocom. Inc.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is. a trademark of
Douglas .Adams.
C I9S4 Infocom. Inc
Printed in U S. A
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Instruction Manual 25
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G/RCopy
— JtT*\
Giardini /Russell Inc., 100 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02172, 617-926-5030
Date: 7/5/84
Number: INFP3-1064
(Destruct order #1)
(My typewriter can't do this)
Client: Infocom
Title: HITCHHIKER'S Destruct Orders
(Destruct order #2)
(Copy)
ORDER FOR DESTRUCTION
in the Year of
Be it known that on this day the 4th of October
ms ~
Our Lord 1905" that by decree of the Domicile Demolition Department
skirt, of
County, the residence of Art hur Dent at
155 Country Lane in the town of tat
indomTWTch shall
herewith be demolished, destroyed and otherwise transformed into a
nondescript heap of pulverized rubble; this order to be carried out
postehaste, said resident(s) having evacuated said premises within
~75Q days of the issuance of this document;
said demolition being necessitated by reason of:
I
irr^JuncJLU-^? of
iS wd* *\
p ft per
' satVv resfdt^tl
(Check one)
National emergency,
Black Plague hazard.
Technical matters far too complex for the average layperson to begin
vu ikS)
GIR
7/5/84
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 2
to comprehend.
It's in the way.
Said property has been seized by Right of Eminent Domain for future use as
(Check one)
Parking facilities.
Shopping mall .
Wildlife sanctuary.
Hunting grounds.
New offices for Domicile Demolition Department.
Vacant lot.
^Other (please specify): Part of bypass between point A and
point B.
We the undersigned do hereby authorize the execution of this order
through the powers vested in us by the State. God Save the Queen!
t
(The signatures of Katie Blue, Harle Perkins and David W. Haskell, or
autographs of any three people who happen to be around when we need
this signed. Labels for each of the signatures are as follows):
Date: 7/5/84
Number: INFP3-1064
Page: 3
G/R
Commissioner, Domicile Demolition Department
Vice Commissioner, Domicile Demolition Department
Mail Clerk, Domicile Demolition Department
(Copy on seal)
Domicile Demolition Department
Demo! i ri Domi ci 1 i urn
Copy A. For Issuance to Resident.
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on two enormous market seg-
ments. It’s a natural for the
5,000,000-plus people who bought the novel, The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. And that’s on top of
Infocom’s avid horde of fans— a solid base of customers who’ve
proven their loyalty with over 80% repeat sales!
Packaged for
Astronomical Sales!
No one packages a game like Infocom. And we’ve done it again
with HITCHHIKER’S. It comes in our new standardized pack-
aging that actually lets your customers see what they’re getting
inside -including many tangible playing pieces that add immense
value to the game. And outside, HITCHHIKER’S works like a
super salesman, attracting attention with its unique appearance,
and clinching sales with vivid and exciting descriptions and graphics !
55 Wheeler St., Cai
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a trademark of Douglas Adams.
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computer game of all time!
A Universe of
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ments. It's a natural for the
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Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. And that's on top of
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aging that actually lets your customers see what they're getting
inside -including many tangible playing pieces that add immense
value to the game. And outside, HITCHHIKER'S works like a
super salesman, attracting attention with its unique appearance,
and clinching sales with vivid and exciting descriptions and graphics!
55 Wheeler St., Cai
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a trademark of Douglas Adams.
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si"
.FSTR
FSTR?l,"the "
J 1 70 4
85 2
. F ST R
FSTR?2,"You "
5 8 52
284
.FSTR
F$TR?3*“ you '»
; 734
392
.FSTR
FSTR?4,"snc "
; 754
2 77
V J
.FSTR
FSTR75,", "
; 7 5 2
752
.FSTR
FSTR?6, M The "
5 645
215
r^-
.FSTR
F S T R ? 7 , " . "
:520
520
.FSTR
FSTR78*" that »
; 4 3 2
164
.FSTR
FSTR ?9 * "your "
; 4 s o
160
.FSTR
FSTR710 i"of "
; 443
448
.FSTR
F S T R ? 1 1 * " t o "
; 418
418
. c S T R
FSTR?12,"is "
S 361
361
.FSTR
FSTR713» "can't »
; 3 1 o
6 2
.FSTR
= STR?14»" have "
5 2 70
90
.FSTR
FSTR? 15 , “ u) i t h "
5 2 67
3 9
.FSTR
FSTR716* "are "
; 254
127
• FSTR
FSTR717 >*’ from "
; 2 2 5
75
.FSTR
c S T R ? 1 3 * " i r »
5 2 2 2
2 22
.FSTR
FSTR719,” There "
5220
44
.FSTR
FSTR720 , "which "
; 2 0 3
52
.FSTR
FSTR721* "through.
II
5 204
3 4
.FSTR
FSTR?22,"fcr "
; 202
101
.FSTR
P STR723 »" about "
; 200
50
.FSTR
F$TR?24,"Fcrd n
; 192
48
r '
.FSTR
F$TR?25»"this "
; 177
59
.FSTR
F$TR726»’* into "
; 174
5 3
.FSTR
F$TR?27,"It 's "
; 170
3 4
.FSTR
FSTR?2Sf” It “
5 164
82
/»S
.FSTR
FSTR?29, H TFis "
; 164
41
r -
v V
.FSTR
FSTR73Q*" Arthur
" ; i so
2 5
.FSTR
FS TR 73 1 , "s,t a 11 "
; 148
37
.FSTR
FSTR732, "nothing
II
5 144
24
.FSTR
FSTR733," something »
5 144
IS
.*“■
.FSTR
FSTR734, "Prosser
II
5 140
20
.FSTR
FSTR?35f" bulldozer "
5 136
17
.FSTR
FSTR736 , "Beast "
5135
27
.FSTR
FSTR737 , "around
" 5 13 0
26
.FSTR
FSTR738 ,"Iir,profca
b i 1 i t y "
5 130
10
.FSTR
FSTR739,»it "
; 129
129
.FSTR
FSTR740," already
If
5 126
21
.FSTR
FSTR741 »" Vcgor "
; 125
25
.FSTR
FSTR742*" don't "
5120
24
.FSTR
FSTR743 ,"Ycu 're
» 5 119
17
.FSTR
FSTR744," little
" 5 115
23
.FSTR
FSTR?45,"like "
5111
37
/—
.FSTR
FSTR746»"but "
5 10 6
e 3
.FSTR
FSTR747 » " u» i 1 1 "
5 105
35
.FSTR
c STR?48,"see "
5 104
52
.FSTR
FSTR?49» "has 11
5 104
C ^
2 C
.FSTR
FSTR750, "There's
5 104
13
.FSTR
FSTR751, "Hitchhiker's "
5 104
a
w
.FSTR
FSTR752, "looks "
« •
o
o
25
.FSTR
FSTR753, "Fugblstter »
5100
10
.FSTR
FSTR?54,"cn »
5 96
96
.FSTR
FSTR 7 55 , "would »
5 92
23
v, ^
.FSTR
FSTR756," seems "
592
23
.FSTR
FSTR757, "going »
5 92
2 3
.FSTR
FSTR?53,"very "
5 9 0
3 0
.FSTR
FSTR759*" so^e «
5 90
30
.FSTR
FSTR?60f"says "
590
30
r
• F STR
FSTR761
"you're " ;
9 0
15
. F S T R
F S T R 7 6 2
"Cybernetic
3 .«
; 8 3
8
.FSTR
FSTR763
" uj h a t " ;
87
29
. F S T R
c S T R 7 6 4
"his " :
86
43
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 5
"you" ;
85
8 5
.FSTR
FSTR 766
"Heart " ;
S3
17
.FSTR
FSTR767
" c a n " I
34
42
.FSTR
c S T R 7 6 S
"it's " ;
84
21
.FSTR
FSTR 7 6 9
"because "
; s 4
14
.FSTR
FSTR770
"probably "
; 84
1 2
.FSTR
FSTR771
"doesn't "
; 3 4
12
.FSTR
FSTR772
"anything "
; 84
12
.FSTR
C STR?73
"at" ;
32
8 2
.FSTR
F STR 7 7 4
" he" ;
82
41
.FSTR
F STR 7 7 5
"out " ;
80
40
.FSTR
F STR 7 76
"large " J
80
20
.FSTR
FSTR777
"Engineer "
; s o
10
.FSTR
F S T R ? 7 S
"Nutrimat"
; 7 t
11
.FSTR
FSTR779
"transference "
:n
7
.FSTR
=STR?50
"be "
75
75
.FSTR
FSTR781
"just "
75
25
.FSTR
c STR 7 S 2
"should "
75
15
.FSTR
FSTR783
"across "
75
15
.FSTR
f S T R 7 S 4
"net "
74
37
.FSTR
FSTR785
"all "
74
37
.FSTR
FSTR786
"here"
72
3 6
.FSTR
FSTR767
"been "
72
24
.FSTR
FSTR786
"their "
72
13
• FSTR
c STR? 89
"Trillian
172
9
.FSTR
FSTR790
" t o ui a r d "
70
14
.FSTR
FSTR791
"back "
69
23
.FSTR
FSTR792
"(there "
6 8
17
.FSTR
FSTR793
"robot "
63
17
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 4
"feel "
6 6
22
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 5
"you've "
6 6
1 1
.FSTR
FSTR 7 96
"holding "
: 66
11
frequency table
of 96 most
c o rr nr, o n
nords
WORDS : :
•TABLE
F S T R 7 1
F S T R ? 2
FSTR73
F STR 74
F S T R 7 5
FSTR76
FSTR77
FSTR7S
FSTR79
FSTR710
FSTR7U
FSTR712
FSTR713
FSTR714
FSTR715
F S T R 7 1 6
F $ T R 7 1 7
=STR?18
FSTR719
> ) )
(jo^rvcy
4aW
< L >
r"
.FSTR
C STR?1,
"the «
1788
69 4
.FSTR
FSTR72,
"You »
876
292
. c S T R
FSTR73,
% "
8 55
6 55
(T^
. c S T R
FSTR74,
"you "
778
3 89
.FSTR
e S T R 7 5 >
"and "
778
389
.FSTR
FSTR76,
"The "
693
231
.FSTR
FSTR77 ,
"your
it
537
179
.FSTR
FSTR7S ,
it it
•
5 29
529
.FSTR
FSTR79,
"that
it
522
174
.FSTR
FSTR 7 1 0
* " o f "
467
467
.FSTR
FSTR711
,"tc "
415
415
.FSTR
FSTR712
, "is "
384
384
.FSTR
FSTR ? 1 3
f "can '
t "
355
71
.FSTR
FSTR714
»"hove
ti
232
94
.FSTR
p S TR 7 1 5
« " f r o m
»
273
91
.FSTR
FSTR 7 1 6
» " a r e
it
270
135
.FSTR
p S T R 7 1 7
♦ " oj i t h
ii
267
8 9
.FSTR
F STR? 1 8
* " i r »
225
2 25
• FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.?=STR
.FSTR
• FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
. p ST R
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
FSTR719
F STR ? 2 0
P STR?2 1
FSTR ? 2 2
FSTR723
FSTR 7 24
FSTR725
FSTR726
c S T R 7 2 7
F S T R 7 2 3
=STR?29.
F S T R 7 3 0
FSTR731
F S T R 7 3 2
FSTR 7 3 3
FSTR734
FSTR735
FSTR736
FSTR737
FSTR? 33
FSTR739
FSTR740
FSTR741
FSTR 742
p S T R ? 4 3
F S T R 7 4 4
FSTR 745
F S T R 7 4 6
FSTR74T
FSTR748
c S T R 7 4 9
FSTR750
F S TR 7 5 1
FSTR752
FSTR753
FSTR754
FSTR755
FSTR756
FSTR757
FSTR753
FSTR759
FSTR? 60
"through "
; 216
36
"There "
; 215
43
"for "
; 212
106
"about "
; 2 0 8
52
"this "
;204
6 8
"which "
;zoo
50
"Ford »
; 1 9 2
48
"It's "
: 1 8 o
3 6
"into "
: 1 7 7
59
"something
it
; 176
22
"It «
; 166
8 3
"Arthur "
: 162
2 7
" T r i s »
; 1 60
4 0
"You're "
; 1 54
22
"nothing "
: 1 5 o
25
" already "
; iso
25
"Irrorobability "
; 143
11
"s rrall »
; 140
35
" around "
; 140
28
" Prosser "
; 140
2 0
"bulldozer
M
: 136
1 7
"Cybernetics "
; 132
12
"like "
; 129
43
"it »
; 128
128
"doesn't "
? 126
18
"don't »
; 125
25
"Beast "
; 120
24
"holding "
; 114
19
"but "
: 112
5 6
"There's "
; 112
1 4
" t o ai a r a "
; 1 1 o
22
"little »
; 1 10
22
"Vcgon "
: 1 1 o
2 2
"see "
; 106
53
" o r "
; 102
102
"will »
; 102
34
"looks "
; loo
25
"net "
; 9 8
49
"probably
n
; 9 8
14
" h c s »
; 96
43
"says "
; 96
3 2
"you're "
;96
16
.FSTR
FSTR761* "very "
; 93
31
. F S T R
FSTR7 6 2 » " y a u "
:92
92
. FSTR
FSTR?63,"st "
; 92
92
r
. F STR
FSTR?64,"out "
: 9 2
46
.FSTR
FSTR765," their "
:92
23
.FSTR
FSTR7 6 6 » " anything
n
: 91
13
.FSTR
FSTR?67,"his "
: 90
4 5
.FSTR
p STR7o 8, "Footnote
«
; 83
11
.FSTR
FSTR769," Corporation "
; a s
8
r-
.FSTR
F$TR?70,"just "
:87
29
.FSTR
=STR?71,"here»
:86
43
.FSTR
FSTR772, "can "
; 86
43
.FSTR
= STR?73,"ujcu1c "
; 84
21
.FSTR
FSTR774 , "large "
;84
21
.FSTR
FSTR?75,"it 's "
; 34
21
.FSTR
p STR?76,"He "
; 8 2
A1
.FSTR
FSTR777, "uihat »
; 8 1
27
.FSTR
F$TR?7S,"scme "
; s l
2 7
.FSTR
FSTR?79,"all "
; so
40
.FSTR
FSTR780," seems »
: 30
2 0
.FSTR
-STR761 , "Trillion
I*
: so
10
r~-
.FSTR
FSTR7S2 , "engineer
it
; so
10
.FSTR
FSTR783," you've »
: 78
13
.FSTR
FSTR784," between "
; 7 8
13
• FSTR
FSTR735," because "
: 7 a
13
.FSTR
FSTR786," something
H
; 7 7
1 1
.FSTR
FSTR 787," transference "
; 77
7
*— ■
.FSTR
FSTR7S8, "think "
; 72
18
.FSTR
FSTR789, "there "
; 72
18
.FSTR
FSTR 7 90, "robot "
; 7 2
18
.FSTR
FSTR791," going "
; 7 2
18
.FSTR
FSTR?92,"Ycur "
* 7 2
13
.FSTR
FSTR 7 93, "several »
; 7 2
12
0^
• c $ T R
FSTR794 , "Sirius "
; 7 2
12
.FSTR
FSTR795,"Urfortunetely"
; 72
6
.FSTR
FSTR?96,"be "
: 7 1
71
; word frequency table of 96 most
common
ui c r d s
words:: .table
FSTR ?1
F S T R ? 2
FSTR ? 3
FSTR74
r^
FSTR75
FSTR76
F S T R ? 7
r
F$TR?8
FSTR79
F S T R 7 1 0
0~
FSTR711
FSTR712
FSTR713
r^
FSTR714
\ wr - / -.
FSTR715
FSTR716
r~-
FSTR 7 1 7
FSTR718
FSTR71
9
-J
R-^O^VVCnJ
r"
.?=STR
FSTR?1»" the "
1658
829
.FSTR
FSTR?2»“ You “
337
279
/*“N
• FSTR
FSTR 73 * “ > “
836
8 36
• PST R
PSTR?4,’'snd "
742
371
.-STR
PSTR?5» M you ”
724
362
.FSTR
F $ TR 7 6 » "The "
666
222
r-
. P S T R
F$TR?7 , "your "
519
17?
.FSTR
FSTR78*". "
512
512
. P S T R
FSTR? 9, “that "
4 98
166
.FSTR
FSTR?10,“of “
4 3C
^30
.FSTR
PSTR711 »” to "
384
33 4
.FSTR
F$TR?12,“is "
3 56
356
r*
.FSTR
FSTP713, “can't “
3 30
66
.FSTR
FSTR?14,“ with “
264
88
.FSTR
PSTR715 > " a r e »
258
129
.FSTR
FSTR?16,“have «
249
8 3
.FSTR
PSTR717 » "from ”
249
S3
.FSTR
c STR?13,“in "
219
219
<-
.FSTR
P S T R 7 1 9 j “about “
200
50
.FSTR
=STR?20,“fcr “
198
9 9
.FSTR
PSTR721 » “this ”
198
66
.FSTR
F$TR?22>“ through
It
; 198
33
.FSTR
f: STR?23»" There »
195
39
.FSTR
?: STP?24» “which “
o
CO
H
4 5
r^
.FSTR
FSTR725, “somethin
II
; 176
22
.FSTR
c STR?26,“It's “
«
175
35
.FSTR
FSTR?27,»Pcrd “
168
42
s~*
.FSTR
PSTR?28,"It “
160
3 0
.FSTR
PS TR 7 29 , “Arthur »
*15 6
26
.FSTR
C STR?30 , "nothing
M
; 150
25
.FSTR
c $ T R 7 3 1 » “ i n t o »
«
144
48
.FSTR
FSTR?32,“This "
«
144
36
.FSTR
FSTR733* “You 're »
140
20
.FSTR
PSTR734, “Grosser
II
; 140
20
.FSTR
PSTR735, “already
II
; 138
23
.FSTR
F S T R 7 3 6, “doesn't
II
; 133
19
.FSTR
FSTR737, “small »
; 132
33
.FSTR
f STR 7 3 3, “don't “
; 1 30
26
.FSTR
PSTR739, “around “
; i 3 o
26
r*
• p S T R
FSTR740, “Improbability "
:i30
1G
.FSTR
F$Tfi?41,“like “
; 126
42
.FSTR
PSTR742 > " i t “
; 1 2 2
122
.FSTR
FSTR743* "bulldozer
it
; 120
15
.FSTR
FSTR? 4^, “Beast “
. ; us
23
.FSTR
PSTR?45»” but “
; U4
57
.FSTR
PSTP746 , "T Here 's
M
; i 1 2
14
.FSTR
F S TR 7 47 , “holding
n
J 106
18
.FSTR
PSTR?43,“see “
106
53
r-'
.FSTR
FSTR?49,"uiiil “
105
35
.FSTR
PSTR?50,“on »
100
100
.FSTR
PSTR751 , "toward “
100
20
f*'
.FSTR
PSTP752, “little “
100
20
.FSTR
FSTR753* “says “
9 6
32
.FSTR
PSTR754," you're "
96
16
.FSTR
PSTR?55>" Footnote
; 96
12
.FSTR
-STR756, “Vogon “
95
19
.FSTR
FSTR757 » “ n o t "
94
47
r~s
.FSTR
c STR?58,“h33 “
94
47
.FSTR
FSTR759, “looks "
9 2
23
.FSTR
FSTR760*" at “
88
33
r~^-
• F ST R
FSTR761
t "very "
37
29
. F ST R
=STR?62
("you"
35
85
n
. F S T R
FSTR763
, "out "
64
42
.FSTR
P 5TR7 64
♦ " w h a t "
81
27
. F S T R
p S T R 7 6 5
,"can "
80
40
.FSTR
=STR?66
, "their »
30
20
r'
.FSTR
FSTR 76 7
♦"seems "
80
20
.FSTR
F S T R ? 6 8
♦"here"
78
3 9
.FSTR
FSTR 769
♦"just "
78
26
.FSTR
FSTR770
♦"you've "
78
13
.FSTR
FSTR 77 1
♦"because "
M8
13
.FSTR
c S T R 7 7 2
♦"something"
Ml
11
• FSTR
f STR 7 7 3
♦"probably "
; 177
11
.FSTR
F5TR774
♦"all "
: 7 6
38
.FSTR
f S T R 7 7 3
♦"even "
75
25
.FSTR
f $T R 7 7 6
♦"his "
; 74
37
• c S T R
FSTR777
♦"seme "
:7 2
24
.FSTR
c S TR 7 7 8
♦"would "
Ml
18
.FSTR
FSTR779
♦"think "
M2
18
.FSTR
f S T R 7 3 0
♦"large "
M2
18
.FSTR
FSTR781
,"it's "
M2
18
.FSTR
F5TR782
♦"Trillian
it
M2
9
.FSTR
FSTR763
♦"Unfortunately"
; 72
A
.FSTR
FSTR784
♦"its "
MO
35
.FSTR
FSTR785
♦ "He "
MO
3 5
.FSTR
FSTR786
♦"anything "
; 70
10
.FSTR
FSTR787
,"D£ "
; 6 3
68
.FSTR
FSTR788
♦"other "
: 6 8
17
.FSTR
f S T R 7 8 9
♦"Your "
; 68
17
.FSTR
FSTR79C
♦"hear "
; 66
22
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 1
♦"several "
; 66
11
.FSTR
F STR ? 9 2
♦"anything"
; 66
11
.FSTR
FSTR793
♦"across "
;65
13
<■>>
.FSTR
FSTR794
♦"Hitchhiker's "
; 65
s
.FSTR
FSTR795
♦"towel "
;64
16
.FSTR
f$TR 7 96
♦"closed"
» 64
1 6
Jword frequency table
of 96 most
common
words
words : :
/**'•
<-■
.TABLE
f S T R 7 1
FSTR72
FSTR73
p S T R 7 4
FSTR75
P STR?6
FSTR77
P STR?S
FSTR79
F S T R 7 1 0
FSTR711
FSTR712
F S T R 7 1 3
FSTR714
FSTR715
FSTR716
FSTR717
FSTR718
FSTR719
vRrvcy
. F S T R
F s T R ? 1 , »'
the "
1700
850
. F S T R
FSTR? 2,"
♦ "
852
8 52
. F S T R
FSTR7B,"
Ycl ”
828
276
. r ST R
FSTR74, "
3 n c M
738
369
• F ST R
F S T R ? 5 , "
you "
7 32
? 6 6
. F S T R
F S T R ? 6 ♦ "
The"
6 9 9
233
• F S T R
F S T R 7 7 , «
your " J
534
178
. F S T R
FSTR?S, , ‘
If
•
521
521
.FSTR
F s T K 7 9 , "
t h c t "
504
168
• FSTR
=STR?10,
"of "
438
4 3 8
.FSTR
FSTR711 ,
"tc "
3 34
3 86
.FSTR
FSTR712 ,
"is"
372
372
s*
.FSTR
c S T R 7 1 3 ,
"can't " ;
315
63
. c S T R
F S T ft 7 1 4 ,
"ujith " ;
273
91
.FSTR
f S T R ? 1 5 ,
"are" ;
270
1 2 C
.FSTR
FSTR716 ,
" f r o 7) "
2 55
35
.FSTR
FSTR717,
"have " I
2 52
8 4
.FSTR
f S T R ? 1 8 ,
"ir " :
223
223
r'
.FSTR
FSTR719 ,
"for " :
2 06
103
.FSTR
FSTR720 ,
"T^ere " J
2 0 5
4 1
.FSTR
FSTR721 t
"stout " ;
204
5 1
r*-
.FSTR
FSTR 722 ,
"through "
J 2 Oh
3 <*
.FSTR
FSTR723,
"this " ;
198
66
.FSTR
C STR?24,
" jj h i c h " ;
1 8 4
46
.FSTR
f S T R 7 2 5 i
"it" ;
166
84
.FSTR
F S T R ? 2 6 ,
"Ford » ;
168
42
.FSTR
= STR?27 ,
"something
)!
; 168
21
.FSTR
f S T R 7 2 8 ,
"Arthur " ;
162
27
r^
.FSTR
=STR?29,
"This " ;
156
3 9
.FSTR
FSTR730,
"it's » ;
155
3 1
. F S T R
r s T R ? 3 1 ,
"nothing "
; iso
2 5
.FSTR
= S T R 7 3 2 i
" a 1 r e s d y "
: 150
25
.FSTR
FSTR733,
"doesn't "
; 140
20
• c S T R
c $ T R ? 3 4 ,
m P rosser "
: 140
2 0
.FSTR
FSTR735 ,
" i r t o "
13 5
45
.FSTR
= STR?36 ,
"don't "
«
135
27
<*-
.FSTR
FSTR7 3 7 ,
"F east »
130
26
.FSTR
f S T R ? 3 8 ,
"Improbability "
; 130
10
.FSTR
= S T R 7 3 R »
"like "
129
4 3
.FSTR
FSTR740 ,
"bulldozer
It
; 1 2 8
16
.FSTR
c S T R 7 4 1 ,
"around "
125
25
.FSTR
F$TR?42i
"small "
124
31
. f $ T R
FSTR74? ,
"it"
122
122
.FSTR
FSTR744,
"There's "
: 120
1 5
.FSTR
FSTR745,
"You're "
119
1 7
.FSTR
FSTR746,
"but"
112
56
.FSTR
F S T R ? 4 7 ,
"Footnote "
: 1 12
14
.FSTR
FSTR?i*8 t
" w i 1 1 " nos
36
a
.FSTR
C STR?49,
"oecsuae "
nos
18
.FSTR
F S T R ? 5 0 ,
"see "
1 06
53
.FSTR
FSTR751 ,
"or "
103
103
.FSTR
FSTR752 ,
"you're "
102
17
.FSTR
=STR?53,
"little »
100
/ n
C \j
.FSTR
FSTR? 5 4,
"says "
9 9
3 2
. F S T R
FSTR755,
"has "
9 6
4 8
.FSTR
FSTR756,
" t c uu a r d "
9 5
19
.FSTR
FSTR7 57 ,
"looks "
92
2 3
.FSTR
FSTR75S ,
"you"
90
90
.FSTR
FSTR 759 ,
"at "
90
90
.FSTR
FSTR76C ,
"very "
9 0
F 0
r'
r'
.FSTR
r S T R 7 6 2 ,
"ycu 'v a "
9 0
15
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 3 ,
"holding H
: 5 0
1 5
.F$TR
F S T R 7 6 4 ,
"ret 11
8 3
44
.FSTR
C STR765 ,
"out "
^4
42
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 6 ,
11 oven 11
84
2 8
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 7 ,
" t h i r k "
8 4
2 1
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 8 ,
M s e 9 m s "
84
2 1
.FSTR
FSTR769,
"arytMng
• 8 4
12
.FSTR
F S T R 7 7 0 ,
"here"
8 2
4 1
.FSTR
= STR?71 ,
"can "
82
4 1
.FSTR
FSTR772,
" ui h a t "
81
27
. = S T R
F S T R 7 7 3 ,
" t h e i r "
3 0
£ U
.FSTR
F S T R 7 7 4 ,
"closed"
30
a 0
.FSTR
FSTR775 ,
"probably
: 77
1 1
.FSTR
F S T R 7 7 6 ,
"oil "
76
3 8
.FSTR
FSTR 777 ,
" h i s »
72
36
.FSTR
F S T R 7 7 8 ,
" ui c u 1 d 11
7 2
1 3
.FSTR
= S T R7 7 9 ,
"otner "
72
1 8
. = STR
F S T R 7 8 0 ,
"it's "
72
18
.FSTR
F S T R 7 8 1 ,
" u r f o r t u n a
teiy"
; 72
.FSTR
r S T R 7 8 2 ,
"be "
170
7 0
.FSTR
F S T R 7 8 3 ,
"its "
: 7 o
‘ 4 . »»>
.FSTR
FSTR 7 84 ,
"He "
7 0
35
• F S T R
FSTR785,
"somethin;"
: 7 0
10
.FSTR
f$TR?86»
"down "
; 69
23
• F S T R
= STR?is7,
"large "
; 6 8
17
.FSTR
f S T R 7 8 8 ,
"Your «
; 68
17
.FSTR
FSTR738 ,
" 3 erne "
* 6 6
2 2
. =STR
F S T R 7 9 0 *
"several "
; 66
11
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 1 »
"erythirc"
; 66
11
.FSTR
FSTR 792 ,
"isn't "
65
1 3
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 3 ,
"across "
65
1 3
• FSTR
FSTR7 94 ,
"V ego r "
6 5
1 3
.FSTR
FSTR 79 5 ,
ii - it
64
64
.FSTR
F s T K 7 8 6 ,
" t c ui e 1 "
64
16
frequency table
of 96 rest
common
lords
* 0 R Q $ : : .TAEL £
FSTR? 1
FSTR72
FSTR73
F 5 T R ? 4
F $ T R ? 3
F S T R ? 6
F ST R ? 7
FSTfi? 9
F S T R ? 9
z S T R ? 1 0
F S T R ? 1 1
p S T R ? 1 2
= S T R ? i 3
F S T R ? 1 4
FSTR ? i 5
FSTR716
F S T R 7 1 7
f S T R 7 1 8
r S T R 7 1 9
r-
. F 5 T R
f S T R 76 1 ,
"jus t "
: 90
30
. FSTR
F S T R 7 6 2 ,
M y c u ' v e "
; 90
15
• F $ T P
FSTR763,
"holding "
: 9 0
r-
.FSTR
FSTR764 ,
"ret "
: 8 8
4 4
.FSTR
C STR?65,
"OLt M
; 8 4
42
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 6 ,
"even "
; 64
2 8
r-
.FSTR
FSTR767,
"think "
: 8 4
2 I
.FSTR
FSTR 768 ,
"seems "
: 84
21
.FSTR
FSTR769,
"erytMno
it
: 6 4
.FSTR
FSTR 770 ,
"here"
; 8 2
41
.FSTR
= STR?71 ,
"can "
; 8 2
4 1
.FSTR
F S T k ? 7 2 »
" Ui h 3 t "
; 8 1
27
r
. =STR
F s T R ? 7 3 ,
"their "
; so
20
.FSTR
FSTR774 ,
"closed"
; 9 0
2 0
.FSTR
FSTR775 ♦
"probably
H
Ml
f*'
.FSTR
FSTR776*
"oil "
; 76
n ft
V w
.FSTR
F S T R ? 7 7 ,
"his "
; 72
36
.FSTR
F S T R 7 7 8 ,
"aiculd "
: 7 2
1 8
n-
.FSTR
= $ T R 7 7 9 ,
"other "
;72
18
.FSTR
F S T R 7 8 0 ,
"it's "
Ml
18
.FSTR
F S T R 7 8 1 ,
"Unfortunately"
Ml
r-'
.FSTR
FSTR782,
"be "
; 70
7 0
.FSTR
F S T R 7 6 3 ,
"its "
; 70
m r»
* W
■ «•*
. = STR
FSTR784,
"He "
; 70
3 5
. FSTR
C STR735,
"something
H
M0
.FSTR
= $TR?86 ,
" o c uj n "
; 69
23
• F S T R
=STR?57,
"large "
: 6 c
17
.FSTR
c STR?88 ,
"Ycur "
; 69
17
%
.FSTR
r S T R 7 S 9 ,
"seme "
; 66
22
r n
.FSTR
F S T R ? 9 0 ,
"several "
: 66
. f$TR
FSTR791 ,
" arything"
; 6 6
.FSTR
FSTR792 ,
"isn't "
;65
1 3
.FSTR
FSTR793,
"across "
;65
1 3
r*
.FSTR
FSTR7 94 ,
"Vcgor "
*.65
13
.FSTR
FSTR 79 5 ,
it j n
: 64
64
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 6 ,
" t C UJ e 1 "
; 64
16
Jiiord frequency table
of 96 Test
common
aords
r-
WORDS: : .TABLE
FSTR71
FSTR72
FSTR73 •
FSTR74
FSTR75
FSTR76
FSTR77
FSTR79
FSTR79
FSTP710
FSTR711
e S Tk 7 1 2
p$tr?13
FSTR714
FSTR715
FSTR716
FSTR717
-STR713
F S T R 7 1 9
15
12
1 1
f-
10
1 1
11
r n
6^ ^ Ule_;
• F S T R
FSTR?i ,
"the »
; 1 7 0 2
851
.FSTR
FSTR72,
n ? n
; 846
846
• F ST R
c S T R 7 3 »
"You "
: 8 2 2
274
.FSTR
FSTR74 ,
"you "
; 7 28
364
.FSTR
FSTR75,
"ano "
J726
363
.FSTR
PSTR76,
"The "
5 711
237
.FSTR
FSTR 7 7 t
II M
•
;523
523
.FSTR
FSTR7S ,
"your "
;522
174
.FSTR
PSTR79,
"that "
1474
158
.FSTR
FSTR710
, "of "
: 4 1 5
415
.FSTR
FSTR711
,"tc "
; 383
3 83
.FSTR
F S T R 7 1 2
> " is "
; 3 67
367
.FSTR
FSTR713
,"csn't "
J 3 4 5
69
.FSTR
FSTR714
♦ " u» i t h "
J 279
93
.FSTR
FSTR715
» " a r e "
♦*2 54
127
.FSTR
FSTR716
> "from "
;2 4 9
8 3
.FSTR
FSTR717
, " have "
*231
77
.FSTR
FSTR71 8
, "in "
5 217
217
.FSTR
FSTR7I9
, "for »
?208
104
.FSTR
FSTR 7 20
9 "about "
; 208
52
.FSTR
FSTR721
,"this »
: 1 9 5
65
.FSTR
FSTR722
j "There "
5 195
39
.FSTR
FSTR723
t "already
i»
; 186
31
.FSTR
FSTR724
9 "through
11
0
CO
r-i
*»
30
.FSTR
FSTR725
9 "which "
;i76
44
.FSTR
PSTR726
, "It »
; 168
8 4
.FSTR
FSTR727
9 "something
H
; 1 6 0
20
.FSTR
FSTR728
, "This «
; 156
3 9
.FSTR
FSTR729
, " F o r d "
; 156
39
.FSTR
FSTR730
, "It'S «
; iso
30
.FSTR
F S TR 7 3 1
9 "nothing
11
; 150
25
.FSTR
FSTR732
9 "Arthur "
; 1 5 0
25
.FSTR
FSTR733
9 " d c n ' t "
5145
2 9
.FSTR
FSTR734
9 "There's
n
; 144
18
.FSTR
c S T R 7 3 5
9 " Prosser
i«
; 140
20
.FSTR
FSTR736
9 " i n 1 0 "
♦ 135
45
.FSTR
F S T R 7 3 7
9 " a r 0 u n d "
: 1 3 5
27
.FSTR
FSTR738
9 "Improbab
ility "
; 130
10
.FSTR
FSTR739
9 "doesn't
it
*12 6
18
.FSTR
FSTR740
9 " B e a s t "
; 125
25
.FSTR
F S T R 7 4 1
, "it "
; 121
121
.FSTR
FSTR742
, "You 're "
; 119
17
.FSTR
c S T R 7 4 3
, "like »
; 117
39
.FSTR
FSTR744
, "see "
CO
0
•
54
.FSTR
-STR745
, " b u t "
; 10 8
54
.FSTR
FSTR 746
, " ui i 1 1 "
: 108
3 6
.FSTR
FSTR747
9 " s fr a 1 1 "
; 103
27
.FSTR
FSTR 7 48
9 "Footnote
n
; 104
13
.FSTR
FSTR749
9 "because
n
; 102
17
.FSTR
=STR?50
9 " 0 n "
: 1 0 0
100
.FSTR
FSTR751
, "has "
; 1 00
50
.FSTR
FSTR752
9 " s s y s "
: 9 9
3 3
.FSTR
FSTR753
9 " j U 5 t "
; 9 6
32
.FSTR
FSTR754
, " little »
: 9 5
19
.FSTR
FSTR755
9 " v e r y "
; 9 3
■31
.FSTR
FSTR756
9 " 1 c 0 k s "
; 92
23
.FSTR
FSTR757
9 "probably
H
; 51
13
.FSTR
FSTR75S
9 " 1 0 uj a r d "
190
18
.FSTR
FSTR759
9 "you've "
; 9 0
15
.FSTR
FSTR760
9 "you're "
; 9 0
15
r-
.FSTR
FSTR761
"at "
89
8 9
. F ST R
FSTR762
"not "
88
44
.FSTR
FSTR763
"seems "
88
22
.FSTR
FSTR764
"you"
85
8 5
p
.FSTR
FSTR765
"can "
84
42
.FSTR
FSTR766
"closed"
34
21
.FSTR
FSTR767
"anything
; 84
12
.FSTR
FSTR768
"here"
82
41
r "
.FSTR
FSTR769
"ujhat "
61
27
.FSTR
FSTR 77 0
" uj c u 1 d "
30
20-
.FSTR
FSTR771
"think "
80
20
r
.FSTR
FSTR772
"their "
80
20
.FSTR
FSTR773
"isn't "
80
16
.FSTR
F ST R 7 74
"all "
78
39
.FSTR
c S T R 7 7 5
"even "
78
26
.FSTR
FSTR776
"be "
76
76
.FSTR
FSTR777
"out "
76
3 8
r*-
.FSTR
FSTR778
"I'm "
76
19
.FSTR
FSTR779
II J M
72
72
.FSTR
FSTR780
"his "
72
36
.FSTR
FSTR781
"down "
72
24
.FSTR
FSTR782
"it's "
72
18
.FSTR
C $TR 78 3
"front "
72
13
f*'
.FSTR
FSTR784
"holding "
; 7 2
12
.FSTR
FSTR785
"anything"
; 7 2
12
.FSTR
FSTR? 86
"Unfortunately"
: 7 2
6
.FSTR
FSTR787
"something
it
; 7 o
10
.FSTR
FSTR78S
"some "
: 6 9
23
.FSTR
f S T R ? 8 9
"its "
: 6 8
34
r*-
.FSTR
FSTR790
"He "
;66
33
.FSTR
FSTR791
"been "
♦ 66
22
.FSTR
FSTR792
"several "
: 6 6
11
.FSTR
FSTR 7 9 3
"Arthur"
; 65
13
.FSTR
f S T R 7 9 4
"across "
;65
13
.FSTR
F S T R 7 9 5
" t c w e 1 "
: 64
16
.FSTR
f S T R 7 9 6
"other "
;64
16
Juiord frequency table
of 96 most
common
uj o r d s
WORDS: :
.TABLE
F S T R ? 1
F S T R ? 2
FSTR73
FSTR74 .
FSTR75
F S T R 7 6
FSTR77
FSTR73
FSTR79
FSTR710
FSTR711
FSTR712
FSTR713
F S T R 7 1 4
FSTR7I5
F $ T R 7 1 6
FSTR717
FSTR718
FSTR719
r '
r
. f $ T R
.FSTR
. FSTR
. F S T R
.FSTR
. = S T R
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
. = STR
.FSTR
. = STR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
• FSTR
.FSTR
• FSTR
. = 5TR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
. c ST R
• FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
.FSTR
F S T R ? 1 ,
n
the "
•
f
166 0
8 30
= STR?2 ,
it
* "
•
f
8 33
838
F S T R 7 3 ,
n
You "
•
3 04
* S Q
c STR ?4 ,
it
you "
•
f
7 42
371
F S T R 7 5 ,
it
ano "
•
9
736
3 .6 8
- S T R 7 6 *
n
The "
•
9
6 96
3 Cm
F S T R 7 7 ,
n
ii
•
•
*
5 3 C
530
=STR?S,
n
your "
•
?
513
171
F S T R 7 9 ,
it
+ h s t "
•
•
45 9
i c -a
A. J ^
F S T R ? 1 0
i
"of "
•
9
4 0 6
4 06
F STR 7 1 1
»
"is "
*
370
3 70
FSTR712
>
"to "
♦
9
367
367
c S T R 7 1 3
i
" c 5 . n ' t
Ii
•
9
3 40
63
f S T R 7 1 4
i
"with
ii
*
9
303
101
F S T R ? 1 5
i
" h c v e
n
•
f
2 4 3
3 1
FSTR716
»
"are "
•
9
242
121
FSTR717
»
"from
i»
•
♦
23 7
7 9
f S T R 7 1 8
>
"about
it
•
9
216
5 4
F STR 7 1 9
»
"in "
•
•
209
209
=STR?20
♦
"fen "
•
9
204
102
FSTR721
»
"There
n
•
9
190
38
FSTR722
i
"which
li
•
f
138
47
FSTR723
»
" a 1 r e a
dy
it
; 1 8 o
F $ T R ? 2 4
9
"this
If
•
9
177
59
f S T R 7 2 5
9
"It "
•
9
164
3 2
c S T R 7 2 6
9
" t h r o u
C
h.
it
: 1 62
c S T R 7 2 7
9
"somethin
h
: 160
f S T R 7 2 3
9
"This
ii
•
9
156
39
F S T R ? 2 9
9
" n o t h i
r*
ii
; 150
F ST R 7 30
9
"Prosser
H
; 147
= STR? 31
9
it T |
ii
•
9
145
2 9
FSTR732
9
" f c r d
ti
•
t
144
26
FSTR733
9
"den ' t
n
•
9
1^0
2 8
FSTR734
9
"Arthur
ii
•
9
1 38
23
FST.R735
9
"There
0
5
11
; 136
f S T R 7 3 6
9
"around
it
•
♦
135
27
F S T R 7 3 7
9
" Y c u ' r
e
it
•
133
1 3
F STR 7 3 8
"Beast
ii
•
9
130
2 6
F S T R 7 3 9
9
" i r t o
ii
•
f
126
42
c S T R ? 4 0
9
"like
ii
•
t
120
40
F S T R ? 4 1
9
ii i + «i
•
9
113
113
FSTR742
9
"dc-esn
0
t
It
; 112
FSTR743
9
"Fcotr
C
t e
ii
; 1 1 2
FSTR? 44, "but "
FSTR745," you're
FSTR746 ♦ "small
FSTR?47»" on "
FSTR748 »" uiill "
FSTR749 f "just "
F$TR?50,"b€caus
FSTR751 » " n c t "
F$TR?52,"hss "
=STR?53,"see "
FSTR754," seems
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'^1 I
Int
01
02
03
04
03
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
13
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
HITCHHIKER'S CHAPTERS
Page
Type
Subject
Guide-Entries/ Asides
001
Narration
Introduction
005
Main Pint
Bulldozer Scene
021
Main Plot
Pub Scene
Gargle Blaster
026
Main Plot
Vogon Arrival
Towels
037
Side Plot
Zaphod Steals HofG
046
Main Plot
Dentrassis Quarters
Vogons
058
Main Plot
Vogon Captain's Threat
Babel Fish
064
Main Plot
Vogon Poetry/ Airlock
076
Narration
Size of Space
Guide Intro
078
Main Plot
Arrival on HofG
085
Narration
Invention of the IID
087
Main Plot
Sending Marvin for F, A
Sirius Cybernetics
096
Main Plot
Z, T on the Bridge
103
Main Plot
Meeting on the Bridge
109
Main Plot
Curing The Night
114
Narration
What is Magrathea
Magrathea
116
Main Plot
Argument About Magrathea
122
Main Plot
The Missile Attack
131
Main Plot
The Sperm Whale
135
Main Plot
Landing on Magrathea
138
Main Plot
Zaphod 's Story
146
Main Plot
Arthur and Marvin Wait
Ballpoint Pens
150
Main Plot
Slartibartfast
156
Narration
White Mice and Dolphins
158
Main Plot
Tour of Planet-Builder
166
Flashback
Deep Thought, Part I
174
Main Plot
Story Interlude
175
Flashback
Deep Thought, Part II
181
Flashback
Deep Thought, Part III
184
Main Plot
Waking Up on Magrathea
191
Main Plot
Slarti Finishes the Story
194
Main Plot
Arthur Meets the Mice
Vl'hurgs, G'Gugvuntts
203
Main Plot
Guards Attack
209
Main Plot
Saved From the Attack
212
.Main Plot
Marvin Suicides Computer
215
Main Plot
Let's Go to the Restaurant
Dear Marc,
Here is my rough notes file on the Game. Because the file is
generated on a hierarchical and cross-associative program and
then written to a simple ASCII file for transmission it means
that it's terribly repetitive and the links between items may
ot be terribly obvious. However, it may give you some sort
of flavour of what I'm doing. Fuller explanations will have to
wait till I see you next week. Looking forward to it muchly,
Best wishes,
Dougl as .
Object of the game
To find out what the object of the game is.
When you find it it's this - to be happy .
happ i ness
Happiness and achievement only go together to a certain level.
Therefore the player will assume he scores by solving problems,
— More —
but will find more and more things that puzzle him.
The more problems you solve without finding out what the object of the
game is, the more points you will lose.
If you insist on solving immediate problems and avoiding
the issue of what the purpose of the game is,
the game accuses you of being an obsessive personality.
Game messages
the game accuses you of being an obsessive personality.
We are about to give you your score. Put on your peril sensitive
sunglasses now.
There must be a series of random replies to Go Ion Colluphid.If
you ask the Guide what the
Object of the game
is. The game might respond in such a way that you realise you have asked
an intelligent question (maybe there is the ghostly sound of
clapping drifts through the air towards you.) A Game warden?
Don't Panic! WHY NOT? YOU SEEM TO BE IN A PRETTY SERIOUS
POSITION.
— More —
"Marvin is visibly affected by this sudden downturn
in your fortunes, and wonders if you are a kindred spirit
after all. He asks if there is anything he can do to help
a fellow sufferer."
Improbability Generator
This is a dangerous area of the ship. Or at least it's supposed to be
terribly dangerous. You have to argue with the game in order to get in.
(Are you sure you want to qo in there?
[YES
<Absolutely sure?
[YES
<1 can tell you don't want to really. You are in the corridor.
— Aol^_-
ZlfS
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— Go.c>av^pky
— LlWUTS
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Strings From Hitchhiker's Game
[NOTE: I've made an atempt to get this stuff in some sort of order.
<> indicates a location where a word or object name gets inserted.
! indicates a mandatory carriage return.]
DARK STUFF:
There is a bottle of Santraginean Mineral Water here.
Ford advises against this. He says that just the stuff the sea's made of
on Santraginus Five is illegal on most planets. So you can imagine, he adds,
what kind of beach communities they have there.
You yell as loudly as you can, but no sound emerges.
You achieve a state of Negative Capability, and are able to be in
uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable searching
after fact and reason. (See Footnote 1).
It does smell a bit. There's something pungent being waved under your nose
which makes you feel a little dizzy. Your head begins to clear. You can make
out a shadow moving in the dark.
The shadow is vaguely Ford Prefect shaped.
The shadow turns out to be a solid object of a Ford Prefect-like nature.
The shadow has a sort of Ford Prefecty smell to it.
The shadow is vaguely Bugblatter Beast shaped.
You can hear nothing, smell nothing, taste nothing, see nothing,
feel nothing, and are not even certain who you are.
You can see nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing, taste nothing, smell nothing,
and are not entirely certain who you are.
You can't hear anything, see anything, smell anything, feel anything, or
taste anything, and do not even know where you are or who you are or how
you got there.
There's nothing you can taste, nothing you can see, nothing you can hear,
nothing you can touch, nothing you can smell, you do not even know who you are.
This is a squalid room filled with grubby mattresses, unwashed cups, and
unidentifiable bits of smelly alien underwear.
The shadow removes the bottle of Santraginean Minera' Water which it has
been waving under your nose in order to revive you, and asks you how you are
feeling.!
I
The shadow is Ford Prefect. You tell him that you feel like a military
academy, in that bits of you keep on passing out. You ask him where you
are, and he tells you a Vogon spaceship. He gives you some peanuts.
You begin to feel, distinctly groggy.
You begin to feel indistinctly groggy.
You begin to feel very indistinct.
It turns out that you have a serious allergic reaction to being
disintegrated in matter transference beams. Your death becomes something
of a cause celebre amongst various hollistic pressure groups in the
galaxy and leads to a total ban on this kind of travel. Within fifty
years, space travel itself dies out and is replace by a keen interest
in old furniture restoration and market gardening. In this new, quieter
Galaxy, the art of telepathy begins to flourish as never before, and from
this develops a new universal harmony which brings all life together,
converts all matter into thought and thus brings about the rebirth of
the entire Universe on a higher and better plane of existence.!
Page 2
However, none of this effects you, because you are dead.
THUMB STUFF:
You struggle to reach it, but the wind is too strong.
You notice that the small black device is shaped like a thumb and has
several buttons on it.
The Electronic Sub-Etha Auto Hitching Thumb is black, and shaped like
a small fist with an extended thumb. It has various lights along its
"knuckles" which
-are blinking wildly, indicating that there is a spaceship in the proximity,
-are all off at the moment.
It has two small buttons, a red button labelled "Called Engineer" and a
green button labelled "Hitchhike". Affixed to the Thumb is its Sirius
Cybernetics Corporation Life-Time Guarantee.
Another robot engineer zips up, spots the first Engineer, looks confused,
and leaves again.
With a screech of ion brakes a small Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Repair
Bike pulls up beside you from out of the Sub-Etha.
Lights whirl sickeningly around your head, the ground arches away from
beneath your feet, and every atom of your being is scrambled, which is an
experience you're probably going to have to get used to. You are in...
The lights on the thumb wink and flash for a few seconds and then shut
off. Nothing further happens.
The guarantee is a detachable plaque which states that the Thumb will be
repaired on site by trained Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Field Engineers,
provided you have the guarantee with you. As you examine it, it comes off
in your hand.
It won't stick on. You'll have to carry it separately.
"No time to chat, old man, I'm attending to an important repair call."
The Engineer robot takes it, looks at it with horror, shakes his head,
sighs, and says "Who sold you this then?"
The Engineer robot pays no attention to your reply, but shakes the
thumb despondently. "This is a model 13X," he says. "You shouldn't
have bought one of these. Not meant for this sort of job. Anyway, it's
discontinued. Can't get the parts."
The Engineer robot takes it, shakes it, looks it up and down. He says
"This seems to be working OK to me. Unusual for a 13X." He hands it
back and roars off into the Sub-Etha.
The Engineer robot looks quizzically at the guarantee, says its expired
but he'll see what he can do. He takes the thumb and fiddles with it for
a moment before handing it back. "Can't promise anything," he says, and
roars off into the Sub-Etha again.
The Engineer looks at it sceptically. "Guaranteed to work normally for
life," he mutters. "Well, it's perfectly normal for a 13X to break down.
And this one's reached the end of its life anyway. Still, as I'm here I'll
see what I can do. "I
He fiddles with it for a minute or two before handing it back. "Best I can
do for a 13X on an expired guarantee," he says. "Can't promise anything."
He roars off on his ion bike into the Sub-Etha.
The Engineer robot ignores you completely. "See, this is the model with
the 5kz booster," he says. "Hopeless." He shakes his head grimly.
The Engineer ignores you. "What you want, you see is one of the new Mk7's.
Page 3
That'll do the job for you. Only you can't get them. Out of stock till
Zarkmas. Sorry I can't help you." He gives the defunct thumb back and
roars off into the sub-etha.
The Engineer robot looks around. "Somebody call the repair service?"
The Engineer looks impatient, and races the throttle of his cycle.
"Probably some kid playing around with someone else's Thumb," grumbles
the Engineer under his breath, and roars off into the Sub-Etha.
ON-EARTH-STUFF:
Just as you've got it all spick and span your house is demolished to
make way for a new bypass. You are seriously injured in the process
and are whisked off to hospital in an ambulance. On the way there you
stop at some traffic lights and before they can turn green the Earth
is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass.!
I
Better luck next life.
You nod off for a couple of hours and are wakened briefly a few hours
later by the noise of the Earth being unexpectedly demolished to make
way for a new hyperspace bypass.!
Better luck next life.
You are safe! Prosser heaves a visible sigh of relief shakes his head
and wipes his brow. The bulldozer thunders past you and piles into the
side of your house.
The bulldozer driver gives a quick chew of his gum and slams in the
clutch. The bulldozer thunders past you and piles into the side of
your house.
It occurs to you that you've never deliberately lain in any mud before
and that it's actually a pleasant sort of squishy sensation. You take your
bedroom slippers off and let the mud ooze between your toes. You may be here
for some time, so you may as well make the most of it.
Ford looks startled, then guilty. He starts to say something and stops.
He starts to say something else and stops. Suddenly he seems to see your
house and the bulldozer for the first time, stops starting to say things
and starts.!
He seems to come to a momentous decision, then changes his mind, then changes
it back again. He says he has something of Earth-shattering importance to
tell you, and stresses the importance of a quick drink in the Horse and Groom.
Ford puts down the satchel and goes off to have a quiet word with Prosser.
From where you are lying, you cannot see or hear what is happening, although
they seem to be deeply engrossed in conversation.
You can't enjoy a pile of rubble properly till it's at least a hundred
years old. Furthermore, you are haunted by the tragic vision of your
favorite old teapot lying shattered somewhere in the dust.!
There is also the matter of all your clothes.
Ford and Prosser are still deeply engrossed in conversation. Suddenly they
stop and come back towards you. Ford says that Prosser has agreed to come
and lie down in your place so that the two of you can go off to the pub.
Reluctantly, Prosser steps forward and lies down in the mud in front of
the bulldozer. You stand up.
"It's not a house, it's a home." (See Footnote 2)
Normally you would be quite surprised by an event as- unlikely as
Page 4
V
a bulldozer poking through your bedroom wall. In this case, however,
you are pre-occupied with the ceiling which is collapsing on top of you.
You can't see any light here!
Good start to the day. Pity it's going to be the worst one of your
life. The light is now on.
You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at least
it would be if you could see it which you can't.
The bedroom is a mess.!
It is a small bedroom with a faded carpet and old wallpaper. There is a
washbasin, a chair with a tatty dressing gown slung over it, a window with
the curtains drawn. Near the exit leading south is a phone.
You miss the doorway and bounce off the doorframe.
You rush down the stairs in panic.
You make your way through the house and out to the front porch.
When you part the curtain you see that it's a bright morning, the sun
is shining, the birds are singing, the meadows are blooming, and a large
yellow bulldozer is advancing on your home.
The darned thing's been jammed shut for months, now.
You hear a dialling tone which is suddenly cut off. Glancing through the
window you can't help but notice the large old oak tree of which you are
particularly fond crashing down through the telephone cables.
Easier said than done. Such ridiculously little things. Have you ever
seriously tried to pick one up at this time of the morning? You lunge
for it but it slips through your fingers and falls under the bed.
Your head feels swimmy. For a moment you think that your hangover
merely went off to regroup its forces and is now launching its most
vicious attack so far, but then the room slowly fades around you
and you feel yourself being pulled away through what you will later
know to be a wormhole in the fabric of the space-time continuum.!
I
Your ballpen has tried the usual ballpen trick of slipping away into
another world the moment you put it away somewhere. However, the thing
your aunt gave you, which you don't know what it is, refuses to be
separated from you, so, you all go together. It is...
You can't reach it from the bed.
The effort of reaching is almost too much for you to stand.
You're still in bed.
Very difficult, but you manage it. The room is still spinning. It dips
and sways a little.
Very difficult frorri where you are on top of it. You try peering through the
bed, and then slowly remember that despite what you seem to remember from
some of the curious dreams you had last night you don't have x-ray vision
after all. You try leaning out and under and the effort seems almost to kill
you. You sink back into the bed.
There is nothing there. No ball pen, nothing. Well, at least there are a
couple of soiled handkerchiefs, a book you thought you'd lost, a couple of
foreign coins, and something else which should not be fully described in a
family game, but nothing you would actually want.
It's difficult to open or close the pocket unless your wearing the gown.
The dressing gown is faded and battered, and is clearly a garment which has
seen better decades. It has a pocket which is <>
Luckily this is large enough for you to be able to get hold of.
A tree outside the window collapses. There is no causal relationship
Page 5
between this event and your picking up the toothbrush.
Don't you feel you should be taking a little more interest in events
in the world around you? While you've got it...?
There is a large tablet of buffered analgesic here.
You swallow the tablet. After a few seconds the room begins to calm
down and behave in an orderly manner. Your terrible headache goes.
Though it is only a small gift (your aunt was always a frugal giver) it
contains a surprisingly large Improbability Generator which is currently
turned off...
You turn it over in your hands. Apart from a label on the bottom saying
"Made in Ibiza" it furnishes you with no clue as it its purpose, if
indeed it has one. You are surprised to see it because you thought you'd
thrown it away. Like most of the things your aunt's ever given you, you've
been trying to get rid of the thing for years.
It falls to the ground with a light "thunk". It doesn't do anything
else at all.
This is the enclosed front porch of your house. Your front yard lies to
the south, and you can re-enter your house to the north.
Do you want to get arrested for indecent exposure 7
On the doormat is a pile of junk mail.
Most of the junk mail is from some computer company called Infocom who
want you to buy some of their adventure games. Hidden underneath it is
an official letter from the local council, dated some tv/o years ago and
inexplicably not delivered till now, to the effect that because of the
plans to build a new bypass, a demolition order has been served on your
house. The date of demolition is today's date.
You would be no safer there.
The bulldozer, which you may have noticed outside, has just pushed
your house down on top of you.
You reach the site of what was your house. It is now a heap of rubble.
Mr. Prosser looks sheepishly triumphant, a trick not a lot of people can
do, as it requires a lot of technically complex deltoid muscle work.
You can enter your house to the north, a path leads around the house to
the northeast and northwest, and a country lane is visible to the south.
All that lies between your house and a huge yellow bulldozer bearing down
on it is a few yards of mud. Nearby is a man called Prosser, from the local
council. He is startled to see you emerge from the house, and yells to you
to get out of the way as it's got to be knocked down.
The bulldozer plows into the side of your house.
The bulldozer advances slowly toward your house.
The wall of your house collapses in a cloud of dust, and a stray flying
brick hits you squarely on the back of the head. You fall to the ground,
and try to think of some suitable last words, but what with the confusion
of the moment and the spinning of your head, you are unable to compose
anything pithy and expire in silence.
You keep out of this, you're dead. An ambulance arrives.
You keep out of this, you're dead and should be concentrating on developing
a good firm rigor mortis. You are put in the ambulance, which starts towards
the mortuary.
For a dead person you are talking too much. Just as the ambulance turns
into the gates of the mortuary a Vogon Constructor fleet arrives and
demolishes the Earth to make way for a new hyperspace bypass.
It's one of those really big bulldozers that can actually crush other
Page 6
bulldozers, let alone houses.
You are lying directly in the path of the advancing bulldozer. Prosser
yells at you to for crissake move!!!
The bullldozer thunders towards you. Prosser is vainly yelling at you to
get out of the way, but you can't hear him over the noise. The ground is
shaking beneath you as you lie in the mud.
The noise of the giant bulldozer advancing on you is now so violently
loud that you can't even hear Prosser yelling to warn you that you will
be killed if you don't get the hell out of the way. You just see him
gesticulating wildly. The ground is shaking beneath you as the bulldozer
thunders towards you.
With a terrible grinding of gears the huge yellow bulldozer comes to an
abrupt halt just in front of you. It shakes, shudders, and emits noxious
substances all over your rose bed. Prosser is incoherent with rage.!
!
Moments later your friend, Ford Prefect, arrives. He is carrying a battered
leather satchel. He hardly seems to notice your predicament, but keeps
glancing nervously into the sky. He says "Hello, Arthur," takes a towel
from his satchel, and offers it to you.
The bulldozer rumbles straight toward you!
Mr. Prosser, the foreman of the wrecking crew, is standing near the
bulldozer.
Prosser seems too preoccupied with this recent turn of events to give
your remarks much consideration. He is running off and saying a number
of things about his mother in a high voice.
Prosser can't hear you from here.
Prosser starts to explain the local planning regulations and says, by
way of reassurance, that you will probably be rehoused within a couple
of years.
"Please step aside as I need to be able to knock your house down."
He is much impressed with it and says "You must have the same aunt I have.
Prosser thanks you, wipes the mud off his boots with your towel, and
hands it back to you.
Prosser takes the Guide from you, has a guick look at it, says
he doesn't read that kind of rubbish, and hands it back to you.
Prosser says thank you but he wouldn't be seen dead with that kind
of thing slung over his shoulder.
You're already as close to him as any reasonable person would ever
want to get.
You swing a punch at him, but he ducks away and insists that this is
incorrect procedure.
The brick narrowly misses him, but mucks up all his fancy facial work.
This is the last moment of satisfaction you will experience for some time.
Ford Prefect is here.
Ford explains that it has been demolished. Seeing that you seem a little
upset by this, he tries to make you feel better by saying that there are
an awful lot of little planets like that around, and the Earth wasn't even
a particularly nice one. "I was stuck there for fifteen years," he adds.
"How do you think I felt about that?"!
I
Somehow this fails to cheer you up.
"Because you're going to need a very stiff drink. I'll explain more
when we get to the pub."
In a state of some anxiety and confusion you follow Ford down
the lane...
Ford Prefect looks uncomfortable and glances at the sky. He tries
again to give you the towel.
Ford says "There's no time to hang around in the mud! It's vitally
important that we go to the Horse and Groom!"
Ford urges you to go with him to the pub. He picks up his satchel and
hurries off to the country lane.
Ford enters from the north.
"Come along, Arthur," says Ford impatiently, and enters the pub.
Ford rushes after you.
You can't. It's not yours. It's Ford's and it's private.
Ford says "Er, look, thanks for lending me the towel. ..Been nice knowing
you. Go to go now..." He gives you an uncomfortable smile and walks off
dov/n the country lane, whistling an uncomfortable tune.
It is caked with mud.
This is the rear yard of your house. It is a rather pleasant
place. The sun is shining, birdies are tweeting, it looks like a nice day
for a walk. A path leads around the house to the southeast and southwest.
The road runs from your house, which lies to the north, to the village
pub, which lies to the west.
Half a mile up the road you see the shape of the huge bulldozer heaving
itself around the middle of the cloud of brick dust which is all that
remains of your home.!
!
As you start to run up the lane towards it, a small dog runs up to you,
yapping.
The dog carries on yapping for a moment and then gulps uncomfortably.
The dog is in a very bad mood and prefers to bite your hand, which it does.
The cheese sandwich lies ignored in the roadside dust.
The dog is deeply moved. With powerful sweeps of its tail it indicates
that it regards this cheese sandv/ich as one of the great cheese
sandwiches. Nine out of ten pet owners could happen by at this point
expressing any preference they pleased, but this dog would spurn both
them and all their tins. This is a dog which has met its main sandwich.
It eats with passion and ignores a passing microscopic space fleet.
The pub is pleasant and cheerful and full of pleasant and cheerful people
who don't know that they've got about twelve minutes to live and are therefore
having a spot of lunch. There is some music playing on an old jukebox. The
exit lies to the east.
Ford buys lots of beer and offers half of it to you, telling you you're going
to need it. "Muscle relaxant..." he says, impenetrably.
Behind the bar is the usual array of bottles and glasses and soggy beermats,
some packets of peanuts, and a plate of uninviting cheese sandwiches.
It is a Walker Brothers song, called "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
Anymore." The next song is "Get Back" by the Beatles.
The record is "Tie a Yellow Ribbon." You can't stand it, and you
are quite pleased to think that this is probably the very last time
ever that it will be heard.
The song is "Hey Jude" by the Beatles, which was the first single they
recorded on their own Apple label, and one of their most successful songs
ever. It's a particular favorite of yours, and spending a moment or two
listening to it calms you down, and cheers you up.
Page 8
There is a barman servinq at the bar.
"I'll sell it to you..."
The barman ignores you and continues polishing the other end of the bar.
You can hear the noise of your house being demolished in the distance.
The taste of the beer sours in your mouth.!
!
You get drunk and have a terrific time for twelve minutes, are the life and
soul of the pub, tell some really great stories, make everyone laugh a lot,
and they all clap you on the back and tell you what a great chap you are and
the Earth then gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace
bypass. You wake up v/ith a hangover which lasts for all eternity.
There is the sound of a muffled crash in the distance, which Ford explains
is nothing to worry about, probably just your house being knocked down.
It is really extremely pleasant stuff. It has a very good dry, nutty
flavour, a little light froth on top, and a deep colour. It is at
exactly room temperature. You reflect that the world cannot be all
bad when there are such pleasures as this in it.!
!
Ford goes on to add that the world is going to end in about tv/elve
minutes.
It's very good beer, brewed by a small local company and properly
conditioned and served in this pub. You particularly like its flavour,
which is one of the reasons why you woke up feeling so wretched this morning. You were
at somebody's birthday party here in the pub last night.!
1
You begin to relax and enjoy yourself, so that when Ford Prefect happens
to mention that he is in fact from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity
of Betelgeuse, and not from Guildford as he usually claims, you take it in
your stride, and say "Oh yes, which part 7 "
Ford Prefect has already bought an enormous quantity for you!
The barman sells you a pack of peanuts. This will be useful for
replacing the protein you will lose going through the matter transference
beam, a tip you picked up from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
You feel a little stronger as the peanuts replace some of the
protein you lost in the matter transference beam. You are going
to need all your strength.
However much you clear your throat, wave your forefinger, or wiggle your
eyebrows, the barman pays no attention to you, but carries on wiping another
part of the bar.
The barman snaps ''Hands off until you pay for it!"
The barman gives you one of the cheese and pickle sandwiches. The bread
is like the stuff that new stereos come packed in, the cheese would be
great for rubbing out spelling mistakes, and margarine and pickle have
performed some unedifying chemical reaction together to produce something
that shouldn't be, but it, turquoise. Since it is clearly unfit for human
consumption you are grateful to be charged only a pound for it.
Not a pleasant experience. You are astonished that any planet on which
life has been evolving for 4.6 billion years cannot produce a better
cheese sandwich than this, and wonder if all is as it seems.
It is one of the least rewarding taste experiences you can recall.
Few cheese sandwiches have bestowed as little benefit on their eaters
as this one bestows on you. Its nutritional value is very slight.
It tastes terrible. You swallow it with revulsion, and derive no
Page 9
benefit from it whatsoever.
With a noise like a cross between Krakatoa and Led Zeppelins' farewell
concert, a huge fleet of Vogon Constructor ships flies directly overhead
and announces that the Earth will be demolished to make way for a new
hyperspace bypass in "two of your Earth minutes."
In all the turmoil, the thing your aunt gave you drops out of your pocket
and rolls away. It is the least of your worries. Anyway, you've been
trying to get rid of the thing for years.
The vast yellow ships thunder monstrously across the sky, spreading
waves of terror and panic in their wake. The voice of the Vogon Captain
slams across the country, insisting that all the planning charts and
demolition orders have been available at the local planning office in
Alpha Centauri for "fifty of your Earth years" and that it is therefore
far too late to start making a fuss about it now.
Throughout the noise, Ford is shouting at you. He has removed something
from his satchel, but has accidentally dropped it at your feet. It looks
like a small black device.
Fierce gales are now whipping across the land, thunder is banging
continuously through the air in the wake of the giant ships.
Ford seems to be fighting against the wind to try and reach you,
but the wind is too fierce. Further announcements from the Vogon
Captain make it clear that the Earth will be demolished in just a
few seconds from now.!
I
Through the blinding rain, you see lights flickering on the small black
device.
The Earth is destroyed by the Vogon fleet.
The fleet consists of terrifying numbers of huge, ugly, yellow Vogon
ships, all scarred with the results of many such past demolition jobs.
Chicago's John Hancock tower, knocked about a bit and painted yellow,
is what they each look like. That is, knocked about a bit, painted
yellow, and flying.
YOU-ARE-FORD STUFF:
In front of you lies the house of a friend of yours called Arthur Dent.
He is lying in front of a bulldozer, you have no idea why. You have no
idea about most things concerning Arthur, including why you regard him
as a friend, but you do, and must therefore return his towel before you
leave.)
i
A few feet away stands an impatient man. There seems to be a bit of an
atmosphere.
You walk around to the other side of the bulldozer. The man called Prosser
is standing here, looking cross and frustated. Realising that you are a
friend of Arthur's he starts to talk at you. He says that this sort of
protest is all very well, but what Mr. Dent must realise is that he's had
plenty of time to make any formal protest at the proper time and place,
and that spending months going through the appropriate official channels,
filling in the appropriate official forms, and going to the appropriate
official public hearings is the right way of going about it, whereas just
lying around whimsically in the mud is not. He says that he personally hates
mud and despises the sort of people who lie in it.
Prosser blinks in astonishment. "You mean, go and lie in the mud in
Page 10
his place...?" You explain that the only way Arthur will move is if
someone else takes over for him. Prosser shakes his head in such a manner
as to suggest that he is very weary of the world, and you tactfully
forebear from mentioning that it won't be troubling him much longer.
Reluctantly, he agrees and you both v/alk back to where Arthur is lying.!
I
You rapidly conclude the business. Prosser lies in the mud. Arthur,
bewildered, nevertheless stands up and appears ready to follow you
to the pub.
You are hurrying up a country lane. The sky is light and clear, but you
keep glancing at it with apprehension because you know that it will shortly
be torn apart by Vogon ships, and that the hills and trees around you will
just burn up and blow away, and you hope there's time for a quick drink
beforehand.!
You hope to be able to hitch a ride aboard a Vogon Constructor ship but
are anxious because it's so long since you've been through a matter
transference beam.
Arthur Dent is here.
Arthur looks too confused to respond.
Explicably, Arthur takes no notice of the towel which, magnificently,
you are trying to return to him. Instead, he says (in rather stilted
language), "Ford, what about my home?"!
You start guiltily. Does he actually KNOW that the Earth is about to be
destroyed? You start to ask him, then you stop. If he knows, what the
Zark is he doing lying down here in the mud in front of...!
You look around. You notice the bulldozer properly for the first time.
You notice Arthur's house. You notice the workmen. The penny drops. His
HOUSE is about to be demolished. You feel like a complete. .. what 's the
word?
Thank you. An idiot is exactly what you feel like.
No, actually, "idiot" was the word I was looking for.
In a reckless moment you go completely mad and decide that you ought
to take Arthur with you. In a much saner moment, you realise that this
is stupid and change your mind. In another reckless moment you realise
that though it's stupid you're going to do it anyway. You comfort
yourself with the thought that some of life's greatest decisions get
taken rashly on the. spur of the moment.!
And so, of course, do some of the most stupid.!
!
Arthur is rambling on about something. He seems more concerned about
a man called Prosser than anything else.
Arthur takes it, sniffs it suspiciously, and wisely decides that it's
safer in his pocket than in his stomach.
You feel a little uneasy about something.
You still feel uneasy.
The sense of uneasiness which you have been so busy ignoring now
utterly engulfs you, as you realise that you have broken one of the
fundamental rules of time travel, which is this: "Do as you would
have done by." The entire rational foundation of the Universe
Page 11
crashes and within a few seconds the whole of creation ceases ever
to have exis
Arthur follows you.
You hear a muffled crash in the distance. It is probably Arthur's
little house getting knocked down, which is what you tell him when
he asks. This does seem to upset him, and he goes tearing out of the
door.!
Out of the window, you see him running up the lane. A small dog runs
after him yapping
-and he throws it the cheese sandwich. The dog devours the sandwich
with passion, and ignores a passing microscopic space fleet.
-but he ignores it. The small dog gulps uncomfortably.
You run up the lane after Arthur.
You pass a serene dog. Fate cannot harm him, he has dined today.
You pass an irritable and dispeptic dog who yaps at you.
You order six pints of bitter - three for you, three for Arthur.
According to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this should
cushion your system against the coming shock of the matter
transference beam.!
In order to start preparing Arthur for the shocks coming to him, you
mention that you are in fact from a different planet but it makes
little impression. This surprises you, since you thought it might be
the sort of thing that would interest people.
You buy yourself three pints of beer, which you calculate is what
you will need to cushion your system against the shock of the matter
transference beam you will shortly be going through. This is a tip
you picked up from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
It goes dov/n well. You decide that the time has come to tell Arthur
that the world is about to end. You tell him. Arthur is completely
unworried. You wonder what sort of news it would take to disturb him.
It goes down very well.
It's an excellent brew. At least they managed to get something right
on this benighted planet. However, the more you enjoy the beer the
more you feel it's a real pity about what's going to happen here - but
what can you do? You tell Arthur that the world is about to come to an
end, but he seems unperturbed. Curious.
The more you enjoy it the sadder you get.
• Right on schedule (according to the news you picked up last night on your
Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic), a huge fleet of Vogon constructor ships hurtle
noisily through the sky. Time is very, very short. Storms break in the wake
of the ships, the wind whips at you and makes it difficult for you to stand.
You grab hold of a tree.
The electronic Thumb in your hand begins to whine and pulsate. Lights
flash across it's surface. You fumble with it as you try to hold onto the
tree against the fierce wind. It falls to the ground near Arthur's feet.
You remove the electronic Thumb from your satchel. Lights pulsate
across its surface. You fumhle with it as you try to hold onto the
tree against the fierce wind. It falls to the ground near Arthur's feet.
You wish you had your electronic thumb with you now.
Arthur is struggling desparately towards you. The end of this planet is
now only seconds away.
Page 12
You struggle to reach the thumb, but the wind is too fierce and you
are driven back. Fortunately, at this point, Arthur picks up the Thumb,
and somehow manages to push the right button, but for some reason the
Thumb merely makes some feeble clicking noises.
I
However often you do it, you are still stunned by the shock of
dematerialisation. The scene around is ripped away like a flimsy
backcloth, and you are in...
TRAAL STUFF:
The effect is decorative rather than helpful.
The Beast roars your name with relish, and explains that once he has eaten
you, your name will be added to his list of remembrance.
You stumble in what you hope is a westerly direction, but as you have a
towel wrapped around your head you can't see where you are going and
wander around in circles. Luckily, the Beast thinks it can't see you.
It is, however, getting a little puzzled that something it can't
see should be stumbling round its courtyard so conspicuously.
The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast is for a moment completely bewildered. It is
such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal it thinks that if you can't see it, it
can't see you. You have a few seconds before it realises its mistake.
There's no need for that. It's not like there's a Ravenous Bugblatter 3east
around, or something.
You unwrap the towel from your head. You see that you have wandered round
in circles and have ended up right beside the memorial. Unfortunately, the
Beast has also caught sight of you again. All this fooling around has made
it douhly angry and hungry. With a headpslitting bellow it tears you apart
with its Vast-Pain claws.
The beast, noticing that you can see him again, decides that he can see
you, and proceeds to tear you into small edible chunks.
This is the lair of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. There is
an exit to the east.
The huge shadowy form whips its evil smelling tail away from where it
had been resting under your nose and bellows a brain-shattering roar at
you. By suddenly popping up out of nowhere you have disturbed its train
of thought. However, since its train of thought was the usual one, and
in fact the only one it knows, which goes like this "hungry ... hungry
to chug along again. I
I
It turns to face you, and you see its Lasero-Zap eyes, its Swivel Shear
Teeth, and its several dozen tungsten carbide Vast-Pain claws, forged in
the sun furnaces of Zangrijad. It has skin like a motorway and breath
like a 747. It advances on you, and roars out a demand that you tell it
your name.
You have emerged from the lair into a large walled courtyard. Strewn
around it are a profusion of gnawed bones bleaching in the sun. Just in
case the significance of these fails to strike you, there is also, in
the middle of the courtyard a stone memorial on which the Beast has
roughly carved the names of all the victims he has already eaten. Lying
on the ground are some, sharp stones. There is an exit to the west.
You barely manage to get the first letter roughly chipped onto the stone when
a bellow or rage from the Beast hurls you spinning through the air.
You cannot see anything and have lost your bearings. You stumble hopelessly
and begin to arouse the Bugblatter Beast's suspicions. It may be stupid but
it's not THAT stupid.
The Beast stops in its tracks, deeply impressed. It asks you where you
got it. You explain that your aunt gave it to you for Xmas. The Beast
compliments you on the quality of your aunts, and complains that his aunts
are complete horrors. He then continues his dreadful attack.
A footling effort. The Beast laughs at you. The shock waves of his
bellows push you back.
Bellowing with rage, the Beast charges after you.
With a headsplitting roar, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast charges towards you.
The Beast is nearly upon you.
With a vast savage roar, the Beast tears you limb from limb with his tungsten
carbide Vast-Pain claws and ... well, do you really want to know the rest 7 The
point is that you have died.
Whose name? The Beast's name? Your aunt's name? One of the Infinite
Unknowable names of Buddha 7 How about the name of Fred who runs (or
rather ran) your local chip shop? At least that's a short name - you
might have time to write it before the Beast eats you.
Concentrate. Learn to distinguish between genuinely helpful suggestions
and mere sarcasm.
You scratch away at the stone. It's not your best writing, since you have
a mounting sense of panic and a towel wrapped around your head. However,
it suffices...
suddenly sees your name freshly carved on his memorial of rememberance.
Mystery solved. It realises that he must have eaten you already in a fit
of absent-mindedness. (Its mind is very very small and quite frequently
absent.) It decides to give up the rest of its afternoon to the twin arts
of digestion and contemplation. It settles down for a snooze. |
I
Near you in the dust you notice the thing your aunt gave you. This surprises
you, since you are certain you had dropped it or thrown it away or lost it or
given it to your sister for Xmas.
sees the name "Arthur Dent" freshly carved on the memorial. This doesn't
ring any bells with the Beast. It roars with fury, and eyes the thing it
can't see because it's got a towel on it's head (i.e. you) with deepening
suspicion.
suddenly sees its own name freshly carved on the memorial. This disconcerts
it for a moment as it has no recollection of eating itself. Slowly it dawns
on the creature that some is trying to make a fool of it. It starts to look
for you again.
Just as the Beast is trying to work out where you've disappeared to, it
The Beast, benighted creature that it is, still thinks it can't see you.
However, it gets so irritated by having an invisible object stumbling
around its courtyard in such a hopeless way that it swipes out angrily
with one of its Tungsten Carbide Vast-Pain claws and life in the Universe
has to carry on without you.
HEART-OF-GOLD STUFF:
This is a short corridor with doors at the northern and southern ends.
In addition, a ladder leads upward.
That door leads to the Infinite Improbability Drive chamber. It's
supposed to be a terribly dangerous area of the ship. Are you sure
you want to go in there?
Page 14
Absolutely sure?
I can tell you don't want to really. You are in the corridor. You have
very wisely decided not to go into the Improbability Drive. Telegrams
arrive from well-wishers in all corners of the Galaxy congratulating you
on your prudence and wisdom. These cheer you up immensely. You stride
along with a spring in your step, leaving the entrance to the Improbability
Drive safely behind you.
What? Your joking, of course. Can I ask you to reconsider?
I knew you couldn't possibly be serious about entering
that horribly dangerous area.
This is the secondary entry bay for the Heart of Gold. A corridor lies
to the south.
You are in the Improbability Drive chamber. Nothing happens; there
is nothing to see.
I mean it! There's nothing to see here!
Okay, okay, there are a FEW things to see here.!
This is the room that houses the powerful Infinite Improbability Generator
that drives the Heart of Gold. The exit is to the north.
Infinite Improbability Drive
You are disoriented for a moment. The blackness swims away like a shoal
of eels who have just seen something that eels like a lot half a mile away...
Every molecule in your body gets pulled away from every other molecule in
your body. Then suddenly they snap back together again like elastic, and you
find, with a dizzy head and very sore molecules, that you are in...
A misty light spins round your head. You fall into what seems horribly
like a bottomless pit. Suddenly, you hit the bottofn so hard that you wisl^
it had been bottomless...
GUIDE STUFF:
There is a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy here.
The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and eventually comes
up with the folowing entry:
The editor responsible for entries under this heading has been
out to lunch for a couple of years now and is expected back soon, at which
point there will be rapid updates. Until then, the best thing is not to
panic, unless your situation is really a life or death one, in which case,
sure, go ahead, panic.
A towel is the single most useful thing (other than The Guide) that
an Inter-Galactic Hitchhiker can have. Its uses include travel, combat,
protection from the. elements, communications, hand-drying and reassurance.
Towels also have great symbolic value for hitchhikers, and there are now
many points of honour connected with them. For instance, you should never
mock the towel of another, even if it has little pink and blue flowers
on it. You should never do something to somebody else's towel that you
v/ould not want them to do to yours. And, if you borrow the towel of another,
you MUST return it before leaving their world.
The Electronic Sub-Etha Auto Hitching Thumb is a very wonderful thing, but
should not be mistreated. If you issue the appropriate command while a ship
is near, you will transported to that ship. If there is no ship in the
vicinity you will place a heavy strain on the Thumb's logic circuits,
which could lead to malfunction. The Thumb is manufactured by the Sirius
Cybernetics Corporation and carries the usual Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
life-time guarantees.#
(
Page 15
r'
There is a strong body of opinion v/hich holds that this is not water at all,
despite all the claims on the label about how pure the spring is supposed to
be, and all the tosh about sparkling babbling brooks and so on. There is
something highly suspect about the water on Santraginus Five, as anyone
who's ever met any of their fish will tell you.
The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is a mind-bogglingly stupid animal.
It has almost no capacity at all for learning from experience and is therefore
surprised by virtually everything that ever happens to it. Here is an example
of how stupid it is: it thinks that if you can't see it, it can't see you. I
1
Its behavior would be quite endearing if it wasn't spoilt by this one
thing: it is the most violently carnivorous creature in the Galaxy. Avoid,
avoid, avoid.
Time travel text hasn't been written yet.
A thoroughly unpleasant means of travelling which involves tearing
you apart in once place and slamming you back together in another. It
is at least preferable to the older method in which disassembled people
would be transmitted down telephone lines and arrive in a thoroughly
garbled and sometimes completely disconnected state. You should have a
drink or two or three before going through one. You are likely to lose
protein, and will be weak and groggy if you don't take some as soon as
possible after the transference. See also the entry about Galaxia
Woonbeam, the author of "Slimmer 's Guide to Weightloss During Matter
Disassembly Transition."
This text is currently the subject of the biggest suit for criminal
negligence damages in history and is unavailable at this time.
Mostly harmless.
That is one of the Great Unanswered Questions. For a list of the others,
consult the guide.
VERB DEFAULTS:
Maximum verbosity.
Brief descriptions.
Super-brief descriptions.
You have a big blinding throbber.
You feel weak.
You are in good-health,
a splitting headache
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
Do you wish to restart? (Y is affirmative):
Restarting.
Would you like to restart the game from the beginning, restore a saved
game position, or end this session of the game? (Type RESTART, RESTORE,
or QUIT): >
We are about to give you your score. Put on your peril sensitive
sunglasses now. (Hit the RETURN or ENTER key when ready.)
Your score is <> of a possible 400, in <> moves.
I don't think that <> is sleeping.
Nobody seems to be awaiting your answer.
After a moment's thought, <> denies any knowledge of <>
(Rather disingenuous, if you ask me.)
Unsurprisingly, <> is not likely to oblige.
You are already in <>
Page 16
You can't get into <>
You are now in <>
(with the toothbrush)
You have nothing to brush.
You can't brush things with <>
Toothbrushes are generally meant for teeth.
Congratulations on your fine dental hygiene.
Your blazing gaze is insufficient.
<> isn't for sale.
You have no carving instrument.
Use prepositions to indicate precisely what you want to do: LOOK AT the
object, LOOK INSIDE it, LOOK UNDER it, etc.
It is now much cleaner.
You can't climb onto <>
There's no way to close <>
<> is now closed.
You cannot close that.
You can't consult <>
You have lost your mind.
You can't cross that!
Such language!
I doubt that the "cutting edge" of <> is adequate.
You are now on your feet.
You doze for several minutes.
You aren't lying down!
You can't drink that!
How peculiar!
Stuffing <> in your mouth does little to help at this point.
This is family entertainment, not a video nasty.
Not difficult at all, considering how enjoyable <> is.
You are so keen on escape that you literally leap through the fabric
of the space-time continuum. You wake up in a shack in tenth-century
Earth. It is early morning. There is a dressing gown, a toothbrush, and a
picture of the lady you love on the mattress-side table. Before you have
a chance to move, Mongol hordes sweep magnificently across the plains of
central Asia and knock down your shack with you in it. They burn the
remains of your shack, with you in it. You lose interest in the rest
of the game.
It's closed.
You see nothing special about <>
There's nothing to fill it with.
Within six feet of your head, assuming you haven't left that somewhere.
You're around here somewhere...
You have it!
It's right in front of you.
You're the magician!
As far as you can tell, <> has it.
You'll have to do that yourself.
<> is right here!
You must specify a footnote number, as in "FOOTNOTE 6".
In case anybody is interested, this is a quotation from a letter written
by Keats, and thus he becomes the first major 19th Century British poet to
feature in a computer game.
Page 17
Bob Dylan, 1969.
There is no Footnote <>
That's easy for you to say since you don't even have it.
<> refuses your offer.
You can't give <> to <>
<> bov/s his head to you in greeting.
Only schizophrenics say "Hello" to <>
Nice weather we've been having lately.
If you're really stuck, maps and InvisiClues hint booklets are available.
If you have misplaced the order form that came in your package, send us a
note at: !
P.O. Box 620!
Garden City, NY 11530!
and we'll be happy to send you an order form.
There's no place to hide here.
Why hide it when <> isn't interested in it.
From what? From v/hom? Why?
You don't have a Thumb!
You are obviously letting things get to you. You should learn to relax
a little.
Nobody's home.
Why knock on <>
I'd sooner kiss a pig.
It is already off.
<> is now off.
You can't turn that off.
It is already on.
<> is now on.
You can't turn that on.
You can't land that.
You can't launch that by saying "launch"!
That would be a good trick.
This was not a safe place to try jumping. You should have looked before
you leaped.
At the moment, <> makes no sound.
There is nothing behind <>
There is nothing special to be seen.
There is nothing on <>
All you can tell is that <> is closed.
It's empty (not counting you).
It's empty.
It seems that <> is closed.
You can't look inside <>
You're wearing it!
You're holding it!
There is nothing but dust there.
I'm not sure that <> can be melted.
Why juggle objects?
Moving <> reveals nothing.
You can't move <>
You sound rather negative.
You must tell me how to do that to <>
<> is now open.
Not surprised.
You can't pick that!
This has no effect.
It's usually impolite to point.
You can't pour that!
You can't push things to that.
You can't do that.
Inspection reveals that <> isn't open.
How can you do that?
<> is already in <>
There's no room.
That hiding place is too obvious.
There's no good surface on <>
You can't put anything under that.
What a (ahem!) strange idea.
What a maroon!
It's not open.
It's empty.
You reach into <> and feel something.
It is impossible to read in the dark.
How does one look through <>
How can you read <>
It's not in need of replacement.
It is hardly likely that <> is interested.
You must address <> directly.
You'll have to open it, first.
You find nothing unusual.
Why would you send for <>
You can't take it; thus, you can't shake it!
There's no point in shaking that.
You'll never sharpen anything with that!
Don't ever bother applying for a job as an armaments expert.
That would be a waste of time.
Wasn't that fun 9
Sleep where?
It smells just like <>
You can't spin that!
How singularly useless.
You are now standing.
You are already standing.
There's nothing to swim in!
You are already wearing it.
You already have it.
You can't reach inside a closed container.
You are in it!
It slips through your fumbling fingers and falls onto the carpet with
a nerve shattering bang. It doesn't do anything else.
It dances by you like a thing possessed.
You make a lunge for it, but the whole wall spins nauseatingly
away from you. The floor gives you a light tap on the forehead.
You're certainly picking the tough tasks. The floor is behaving like
trampoline on an ice rink.
You try, but miss it by a good eighteen inches. The wall jostles you
Page 19
rather rudely.
The floor is behaving like something they've been working on for years
at Disneyland.
Okay, you're no longer wearing <>
You aren't wearing that!
You can't do that. At least, not in this game you can't.
<> looks at you expectantly, as though he thought you were about to talk.
You can't talk to <>
You do so, but <> seems less than overjoyed.
You hit your head against <> as you attempt this feat.
That would involve quite a contortion!
You can't throw anything off that!
You can't tie <>
You could certainly never tie it with that!
This has no effect.
This cannot be tied, so it cannot be untied!
Did you have any particular direction in mind?
Time passes...
It's already here!
You v/ill probably be waiting quite a while.
Despite your friendly nature, <> isn't likely to respond.
You can't wear <>
You're already wearing <>
You are now wearing <>
Good question.
Well, what about it?
That's not a person!
You begin to get a sore throat.
You sound rather positive.
Your load is too heavy.
It's a little too heavy, especially in light of your exhaustion.
You're holding too many things already.
You're not carrying <>
Impossible since <> is closed.
It is pitch black.
(providing light)
(being worn)
(outside the
Sitting on the <> is:
It looks like <> is holding:
You just bumped into something sharp.
**** you have died ****j
I
You are clearly insane.
You can't be serious.
Not bloody likely.
You're not going anywhere until you get out of the <>
With a splash, <> plunges into the water.
Look around you.
^ It's too dark to see!
You can't go that way.
It is now pitch black.
Page 20
It is already open.
It is already closed.
You can't see that anymore.
You can't do that while you're lying down!
With a towel wrapped around your head!?!
A brave, Zen-like effort. It fails.
You already are.
You are now lying on the ground.
Talking to yourself is said to be a sign of impending mental collapse.
You are obviously awake .already.
You already have it.
You don't need my help to do that!
You're right here!
You're the earthman, Arthur Dent.
Walking around the room reveals nothing new. If you want to move elsewhere,
simply indicate the desired direction.
You're talking complete nonsense, pull yourself together.
That's for you to find out.
PARSER STUFF:
There isn't anything to <>
Be specific: what object do you want to <>
I beg your pardon?
I found too many nouns in that sentence.
Please consult your manual for the correct way to talk to characters.
I don't know the word "<>"
I can't use the word "<>"
I can't find a verb in that sentence!
I don't understand that sentence.
I can't answer that question.
What do you want to <>
"I don't understand! What are you referring to?”
There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence.
(How about the <>)
You're not holding all those things!
You're not holding that!
You're not holding <>
I can't use multiple direct objects with "<>"
Those things aren't here!
You'll have to be more specific, I'm afraid.
You can't see any <> here.
Looking confused, <> says, "I don't see any <> here!"
You wouldn't find any <> there.
You can't see any <> here.
That sentence doesn't make sense.
I don't see what you're referring to.
Follov.’ing are public radio stations which are Lnown to be picking up
the Inf oco m -sponsored Hitchhikers Cubic to the Galaxy. Chose are the
stations which have made a commitment as. of December 5, 1904. More
expected to pick it up during the next few weeks. For dates and times
of broadcast, check local, listings or call the station. If your area's
public radio station is not listed here (approximately 200 are not),
call and point out that there are many interested people in your area.
The show is being provided to them for no charge - all they have to do
is to make a time slot available.
ALABAMA *.
Birmingham
WBH M
M obile
V7HIL
ALASKA
Barrow
K3RW
K odiak
KM XT
McGrath
KSKO
V7 rangell
KSTK
CALIF OR NT A
T'nr V"^ o ', ?
T * T> T> 7\
A . X_ J X X
i~- > — 1. iV- .u j-
Fresno
KVPR
Los Angeles
KCRV7-FM
Pasadena
KPCC
Sacramento
iv/w J\ i
SanFrancisco
rrcM-F M
i. \ w - 1 i- lx
COLORADO
Denver
VTT VT r'—V M
X W V_ . 1 X - i.
FLORIDA
G ainesvCIe
WUFT
Jacksonville
T-TTP^
Jn U W X
Miami
WLRN-FM
GEORGIA
Atlanta
W ABE
ILLINOIS
C hicago
V7BEZ-FM
UNIU-FM
V7GIE
WCBU
WVIK
are
Edward.sville
Peoria
RocklsLand
Page 2
n
10 V7 A
p ortPodae
INDIANA
K m PR
Indianapolis
KANSAS
WIAM-FM
Lawrence
Pierce villa
LOUISIANA
KANU
KANZ
Baton Rouge
MAINE
WP.KE
Bangor
Portland
MASSACHUSETTS
MPBN
KBOO-FM
KOAP-FM
Boston
MICHIGAN
WGBH-FM
Detroit
MINNESOTA
wnF'T’-r **
» V L; X~I A. 1 i -V
Minneapolis
MISSOURI
KBEM
Columbia
Point Lookout
RoHa
Springfield
St. Louis
MONTANA
KOPN
KSOZ
KUMA
KSMU
K W M U
Missoula
NEBRASKA
KUFM
0 m aha
NEW YORK
KIOS
Binghamton
WSKG
Page 3
C anton
New York
Oswego
NORTH CAROLINA
WSLU
NNYC-FM
MR VO
ChapelHill
0 harlotte
Fayetteville
xa TT T\7 n
if % U l V v-
WFAE
WFSS
NORTH DAKOTA
Fargo
Grand Forks
OHIO
KDSU
KFJM
Cincinnati
K ent
OKLAHOMA
WVXU-FM
WKSU
!Torman
OREGON
KCOU
Ashland
TENNESSEE
KSOR
Memphis
N ashville
mr? y t\ c*
iu/mO
WKNO
UPLN
Corpus Christ!
H ouston
UTAH
KKED
KUHF-FM
KPTF-FM
Logan
SaltLake
VIRGINIA
KUSU
KUER
Harrisonburg
V7MRA
WASHINGTON
Seattle
KNOW
V ASIIINGTOND.C.
r/* r-« m t\ _T“» * f
V » i » j. /i x i -
Pago
WESTVIRGINIA
Charleston
WISCONSIN
Kenosha
M i’v?aukee
Rhinelander
WVPN
WPTD
WY MS-EM
WXPR
W e’re not shy about
what we want. Soft-
ware that does its
job, for one; software that’s
easy to use and fun to run, for
another. And we’re not shy
about what we like, either. In
the pages of COMPUTE! magazine, we
regularly let you know what’s hot and
what’s not, what personal computer soft-
ware and hardware is worth the time and
money, and what you’d best steer clear of.
Finding the best software isn’t always
easy, though, even with the blizzard of
packages that inundate the offices of
COMPUTE! magazine each week. We see
more in a day than the average user does
in a lifetime, something that gives us a
perspective unique in computer publish-
ing, where every other magazine concerns
itself with only one
computer or only
one very specialized
kind of computing.
Since COMPUTE!
talks to all com-
puter users and
plays no favorites among
machines or applications, we
get to see the entire spectrum
of products — software that’s
topnotch, software that’s only
so-so, and even software that
we wouldn’t boot up if our
lives depended on it.
Sifting through the flotsam and jet-
sam of personal computing, especially
home computing, is our job and our de-
light. That’s why we’re proud to introduce
the COMPUTE! Choice Awards.
These first annual COMPUTE!
Choice Awards represent our collective
opinion about the current state of home
computing, a part of the personal
computing community that’s healthy and
growing. That’s amply demonstrated by
the COMPUTE! Choice Awards, which
illustrate the ex-
cellence in home
computing, rec-
ognize the excep-
tional, point out the
creative, and note
the important.
24 COMPUTE!
Selected by a panel of editors at
COMPUTE! Publications, the Award
winners were judged using four cri-
teria. Ideally, winners were to be
► Of the highest quality
► Whenever possible, available for
more than one kind of home per-
sonal computer
► Important to the home computing
market
► Available — mail-order and discount
software stores included — for less
than $250
Not every winner met all the cri-
teria. Some COMPUTE! Choice
Award winners are not available for
multiple computer formats, for in-
stance. Each winner, however, meets
the criteria better than any others
nominated in its category.
Because these are the first COM-
PUTE! Choice Awards, we had the
Herculean task of considering any
product on the market, no matter
when it was released. That’s why,
though many are new products, some
are old standbys. The 1989 COM-
PUTE! Choice Awards are, then, our
benchmarks, against which all follow-
ing awards will be compared.
We think we’ve chosen the very
best that home computing has to offer.
In fact, we hope that by presenting
such awards, COMPUTE! magazine
can encourage software developers and
hardware manufacturers to bring the
best applications, games, educational
programs, and hardware into the
home, the one place where computers
can make a difference in everyone’s
life. We’re all home computer users
here, too, and we want what you
want — the best.
There are more than 1 3 outstand-
ing home computer products, of
course. Other products, lots of other
products, deserve mention and atten-
tion. We’ve compiled another list, one
larger and more wide-ranging, in this
issue. If you don’t see your favorite
computer product among the COM-
PUTE! Choice Award winners that fol-
low, take a look at the other excep-
tional products for the home computer
user in “The Best of the Rest” (p. 36).
WORD PROCESSOR
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word combines power, ease
of use, and configurability in a stand-
ard-setting word processor. In the
Macintosh world, Word is still the pro-
gram to beat. Soon after its introduc-
tion on the Macintosh, Word brought
much of that machine’s power to the
IBM PC.
In addition to the features that
we’ve come to expect in a world-class
word processor — spelling checker, the-
saurus, macros, and online help —
Word has glossaries and style sheets
that let you customize your word
processing to suit your individual
needs. What gives Word its real
character, though, is the seamless way
it’s driven either by mouse input or by
well-designed keyboard commands.
Word’s interface makes the program’s
power accessible even to novices.
The 1989 COMPUTE! Choice
Award for Word Processor goes to
Microsoft Word for several reasons.
The program’s outstanding quality and
impressive list of features are its most
noticeable virtues — it definitely has
power to burn. Word also get points
for its continued evolution. The pro-
gram was an early what-you-see-is-
what-you-get proponent, and rather
than rest on its laurels, Microsoft has
continued to improve Word’s per-
formance. Word is also innovative. It
was one of the first programs to offer
IBM PC users a powerful mouse-
driven interface, and it has done much
to popularize the mouse in the PC
community.
Last, and most importantly, Word
has continually set and surpassed word
processing standards on the two most
influential computers in the market to-
day — the IBM PC and the Macintosh.
DATABASE
Zoomracks
Zoomracks is a database with a dif-
ference. Instead of a more familiar
record-oriented interface, Zoomracks
uses a patented card-and-rack
metaphor.
Zoomracks’ main screen looks
like a rack of cards displayed hori-
zontally, with the top line of each card
JANUARY 1989 25
visible. You can scan the deck and
zoom in on any card to get a look at
its contents. And you can zoom out of
any card to get an overview.
This simple and revolutionary
idea makes Zoomracks one of the fast-
est and easiest databases to navigate.
With full text searching, a powerful
macro language, and online help,
Zoomracks offers all the database fea-
tures most home and small-business
users need.
Zoomracks’ card metaphor is not
only an influential interface ahead of
its time, but also, what makes this pro-
gram so exceptional. Zoomracks gets
high marks for its macro language as
well. The macro language gives the
program much of its power and makes
Zoomracks extendable so that third-
party vendors can create and sell their
own rackware.
And finally, Zoomracks is an ex-
ample of a program that crosses com-
puter boundaries. Zoomracks is
available for three important micro-
computer platforms — IBM PC, Mac-
intosh, and Atari ST — making the
most of a uniform interface while
exploiting each system’s virtues.
Zoomracks wins the 1989 COM-
PUTE! Choice Award for Database
because of its innovative design,
its power, and its multisystem
availability.
SPREADSHEET
Multiplan
In 1982, Multiplan was Microsoft’s an-
swer to VisiCalc. But while VisiCorp
rose and fell with VisiCalc, Multiplan
was just one of Microsoft’s many of-
ferings, and it endured to become the
most popular entry-level spreadsheet.
Multiplan is fast and powerful,
but it wins the 1989 COMPUTE!
Choice Award primarily because it’s
available on so many systems. Few
packages work on as many systems
as Multiplan , which has versions for
the Apple II, CP/M, IBM PC, and
Macintosh.
Multiplan’s speed is notable; the
program recalculates spreadsheets at
blistering rates. It’s easy to use, too —
there’s no need to learn cryptic com-
mands when you can use menus to
choose functions and operations. The
program is especially easy to use on
mouse-equipped systems.
Multiplan gets along well with
other spreadsheets, too, because you
can convert data from other formats.
Although Multiplan is no longer
Microsoft’s top-of-the-line spreadsheet,
it does offer macro capabilities and an
iteration option. Multiplan is a great
bargain for such a powerful spread-
sheet: $99 for the Apple II version and
$195 for the other versions.
INTEGRATED SOFTWARE
Microsoft Works
Works comes from a well-respected
software family, so you’d expect it to
be good. The package combines a
word processor, a spreadsheet, a data-
base, and a telecommunications pack-
age. You can find versions for the
IBM PC and its compatibles and for
the Macintosh.
The word processor is packed full
of features, including graphics han-
dling and a spelling checker, and the
spreadsheet lets you create business
graphics, such as pie charts and bar
graphs. If there’s a feature missing
from any of the applications, you can
probably create a macro to accomplish
the task.
The nicest feature of Works is
that it offers the perfect balance be-
tween power and price. Many single-
application packages pack too much
punch for the home user, so Works’
simplicity helps tremendously. And if
you bought the applications separately,
you’d spend more than four times the
money you’d spend for Works.
We chose Works for a 1989
COMPUTE! Choice Award because
it’s easy to use, inexpensive, versatile,
and provides just the right amount of
power for the home user.
PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGE/UTILITY
Turbo Pascal
Borland International made its mark
in the computer industry when it re-
leased the incredibly popular Turbo
Pascal programming language. Turbo
Pascal was the first truly affordable
Pascal compiler. It’s quick, capable,
and, unlike many compilers, it carries
no licensing fees. Today, Turbo Pascal
is available for MS-DOS and CP/M
computers as well as the Macintosh.
Turbo Pascal receives a 1989
COMPUTE! Choice Award for its
long-standing popularity, its usability,
and its ability to change with the
marketplace. Consistently, Borland has
kept Turbo Pascal up-to-date. When
26 COMPUTE!
users requested more features, such as
direct support of DOS calls and the
ability to use more than 64K of mem-
ory for data, Borland responded.
When windowing environments be-
came popular, the Turbo Pascal editor
acquired pull-down menus, requesters,
and a resizable editing window.
As a compiler, Turbo Pascal is
fast — it can compile more than 200
lines per second on a standard 4-MHz
MS-DOS machine. As a language,
Turbo Pascal is complete, offering sev-
eral predefined functions and proce-
dures. With the use of compiled
subprograms called units, you can ac-
cess everything from the disk drive to
the graphics screen. For additional
support, Borland offers a series of
Toolbox books which contain sample
procedures, functions, and completed
programs.
Turbo Pascal has become the
standard programming language on
MS-DOS computers. Chances are, if a
commercial PC program is written in
Pascal, it’s written in Turbo Pascal.
GRAPHICS
Deluxe Paint II
Although it’s available for the Apple
28 COMPUTE!
IIgs and IBM PC as well, Deluxe
Paint II started out on the Amiga, a
personal computer with no peer when
it comes to graphics. To match the
capabilities of that graphics computer
in a graphics program takes ease of
use, reliability, and elegance. Deluxe
Paint II has all that and more. For
these reasons, Deluxe Paint II wins the
1989 COMPUTE! Choice Award for
Graphics.
Deluxe Paint II took its cue from
Macintosh paint programs but added
one important element: color. With
Deluxe Paint II, you paint with light-
4096 colors’ worth. The program’s rep-
ertoire includes such advanced fea-
tures as perspective, custom brushes,
resizable standard brushes, and color
cycling. You can pick up any part of
an image and rotate it, flip it, or create
its mirror image. You can easily
shrink and expand images. With De-
luxe Paint II, you can work with two
pictures at the same time. When
you’ve finished, you can merge them
together.
In all its forms, Deluxe Paint II
supports the standard and not-so-
standard graphics modes on its host
computer. Its manual is uniformly ex-
cellent and includes everything you
need to know and more. Beginners
will appreciate the tutorials and the
graphics interface that includes menus
and a tool box.
Deluxe Paint is a program you
can grow into.
HARDWARE ADD-ON
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet
The Hewlett-Packard DeskJet is an
amazing hardware add-on for any
IBM PC, PC compatible, or Mac-
intosh personal computer system. An
ink-jet printer, the DeskJet neverthe-
less produces text and graphics almost
indistinguishable from laser-printer
output.
The under-$ 1,000 HP DeskJet
sprays characters and pictures onto pa-
per through the nozzles in its dis-
posable printhead. Unlike ink-jet
printers of the past, however, it pro-
duces a superbly crisp page with a
resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi),
the same resolution found in the cur-
rent generation of laser printers.
The printer comes equipped with
a 100-page sheet-feeder tray and uses
plain copier paper. Although the
DeskJet has but one built-in font
(Courier), more than a dozen optional
font cartridges are available from HP.
We gave the 1989 COMPUTE!
Choice Award for Hardware Add-On
to the HP DeskJet for its performance
and its price, two equal and vital
requirements for home and home-
otfice use.
The DeskJet flawlessly produces
the kind of professional-quality text
and graphics that, until its arrival,
could only have been generated on a
far more expensive laser printer. For
less than $ 1 ,000 you can print near-
typeset-quality reports, newsletters,
graphics, and art.
The DeskJet is versatile, too, for
although it’s easily connected to an
IBM PC and PC-compatible com-
puter, it will also produce stunning re-
sults with a Macintosh using Orange
Micro’s Grappler LQ interface.
ARCADE GAME
Tetris
Okay, last time: This is Tetris [show
red-colored box]. This is your brain
[show egg]. This is your brain on
Tetris [show egg on box, sizzling]. Any
questions?
People say this about lots of
games, but Tetris is, by far, the most
addictive game ever. We can thank
some programmers in the Soviet
Union for this treasure.
As you play Tetris, you try to di-
rect falling blocks so that they build
solid rows. No space wars, no tanks,
no guns. If only the geopolitical world
we live in were so simple.
You don’t shoot; you build. You
don’t move quickly; you manipulate
carefully. You can play as fast or as
slow as you like, and the game is still
fun. It doesn’t take long to learn to
play Tetris well enough to spend 1 5
minutes on one game.
You have to see this game to
appreciate it. But -don’t check it out if
you’ve got other things to do.
The 1989 COMPUTE! Choice
Award for Arcade Game goes to the
unconventional Tetris because it’s easy
to play, but hard to master, because
it’s deceptively simple, but ingeniously
complex — and because Tetris is avail-
able for almost every personal
computer.
SIMULATION SOFTWARE
Flight Simulator
These days you can run a train, com-
mand a moon mission, captain a sub-
marine, and drive a racecar, all from
your computer. But in the early 1 980s,
one software package reigned supreme
in the world of personal computer
simulations — Flight Simulator.
Despite the competition, or per-
haps because of it, Flight Simulator
continues to excite the imagination
and retain its standing as the bench-
mark of computer simulation pro-
grams. The program has even spawned
add-on scenery disks.
From the cockpit of a Cessna 1 82,
a Leaijet, or a World War I-vintage
Sopwith Camel, take off and land at
airports around the world. Create as
many as 30 flight situations that you
can save to fly again. You get a view
through the windshield and a detailed,
accurate, instrumentation panel. Test
your flying skills by altering time of
day, weather, and seasons.
Flight Simulator garners the
COMPUTE! Choice Award for
Simulation Software not only because
of its depth of design, but also because
of its breadth of scope. It operates on
almost every personal computer,
including the IBM PC and
compatibles, Macintosh, Apple II,
Atari ST and 8-bit computers, Amiga,
and Commodore 64/128. Equally tell-
ing are the continuing advancements
that have been made with the package.
The latest release for the IBM PC, ver-
sion 3.0, builds on a tradition of de-
sign excellence.
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
Where in the World Is Carmen
Sandiego ?
Actually only the first installment in a
software series, Where in the World Is
Carmen Sandiego? succeeds where
most other educational software falls
flat — not only is it a worthy learning
tool, but it’s also an entertaining expe-
rience in front of the computer.
You play the part of a gumshoe
hot on the trail of Carmen Sandiego
and her gang of strange-named crim-
inals. The pursuit takes you across the
world or, in the sequels, across the
U.S.A. or Europe.
As you travel from city to city,
you uncover geographical clues about
your quarry’s new destination. It’s up
to you to figure out the crook’s next
tour stop and then beat him or her to
that place. The reference materials in-
cluded with each program are invalu-
able and make the software as educa-
tional as any lesson in looking up facts
or delving deep into information.
Where in the World, for example, con-
tains the World Almanac.
The 1989 COMPUTE! Choice
Award for Educational Software goes
to Where in the World Is Carmen
Sandiego? and its siblings for several
reasons, not the least of which is that
the series has set a standard that other
educational packages strive for.
Carmen teaches geography in such an
entertaining fashion that learning is
nearly painless. Children want to play
Carmen; that’s the single most im-
portant hallmark of quality educa-
tional software.
Carmen also won points for its
presence on a variety of home com-
puter systems, with versions for MS-
DOS, Apple II, Commodore 64, and
Macintosh. Add to that the fact that
Carmen is a superb game in either the
classroom or the home, and you get a
clear winner.
HISTORICAL GAME
Pirates!
Computers can open windows on
other worlds, both real and not, an
ability admirably demonstrated by
Pirates!.
Pirates! is set in an only partially
romanticized Caribbean world of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
You assume the role of a privateer or
30 COMPUTE!
buccaneer roaming the seas in search
of treasure, political alliance, solutions
to certain mysteries. You can play the
game as a wholly imaginary character
or you can simulate a great historical
captain.
Either way, you must outfit your
craft; hire a crew; and develop sea-
faring, martial, mercantile, social, and
diplomatic skills. While certain aspects
of the game evoke an Errol Flynn
sensibility, others are more harsh: You
can be taken prisoner, you age, and
you can lose the loyalty of your crew.
Historical reality also figures: Alliances
shift, treaties collapse.
Pirates! calls upon a variety of
abilities. When voyaging, you must
navigate your ship through sometimes-
difFicult waters and winds. Ship-to-
ship combat likewise requires mastery
of tight hauls against the wind and
carefully aimed cannon fire. No less
difficult are negotiations with gov-
ernors of various ports of call.
We selected Pirates! as the 1989
COMPUTE! Choice Award winner in
the Historical Game category for its
excellent gameplay and its high-quality
historical documentation and context.
Literate, carefully organized, histori-
cally accurate, the manual is an im-
portant aspect of Pirates!.
32 COMPUTE!
Pirates! succeeds on several levels,
can be played by adults or children,
and remains rewarding no matter how
many times its adventures have been
sampled.
ROLE PLAYING/
ADVENTURE GAME
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Addams’ popular book
trilogy/radio show/TV series, The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was
the perfect medium to integrate into
Infocom’s computer-adventure format.
Like all good adventure games,
the Hitchhiker story doesn’t follow a
linear path; it transcends space and
time. And by working closely with
Douglas Addams, the program’s au-
thors succeeded in keeping the game
faithful to the Hitchhiker story.
The Hitchhiker story is unique.
Briefly put, Arthur Dent wakes up to
find that his house is in the path of a
proposed freeway and is going to be
destroyed. Of course, this problem
soon loses impact when Arthur
discovers that the entire Earth is to be
demolished to make way for an inter-
galactic bypass. More than anything
else, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy adventure game is humorous.
As Arthur Dent, you’ll encounter such
bizarre characters as Zaphod
Beeblebrox, the erstwhile president of
the universe; Marvin, a morosely
philosophical robot; and the most
ravenous creature in the universe, the
Bugblatter Beast of Traal. But after
surviving the destruction of Earth in
the first few minutes of the game,
you’re prepared for anything.
For bringing lethal Vogon poetry,
Babble fish, and the phrase Don ’t
Panic! to computer adventure games,
Infocom’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy is the 1989 COMPUTE!
Choice Award winner for Role
Playing/ Adventure Game.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Quantum Computer Services
Computer owners who have added
modems to their systems have bene-
fited from a world where fellow enthu-
siasts are but a phone call away. But
for others, telecommunications re-
mains the mysterious stranger on the
personal computing horizon. Acoustic
couplers, baud rates, parity, and phone
lines conjure up images of Matthew
Broderick playing war games with the
Strategic Air Command, or of E.T.
phoning long distance.
The 1989 COMPUTE! Choice
Award for Telecommunications goes to
Quantum Computer Services for shed-
ding light on the murky waters of elec-
tronic communications. Either alone
or in conjunction with hardware
manufacturers, Quantum offers
AppleLink for Apple II users, Q-Link
for Commodore 64/128 users, and PC-
Link for the MS-DOS community.
Quantum subscribers gain access
to information specific to their com-
puter brand. They can attend elec-
tronic universities and sit in on panel
discussions with industry experts.
They can read news, search an
encyclopedia, shop, or play games.
They can share thoughts, hints, and
tips on electronic bulletin boards, keep
tabs on the newest public domain and
shareware software packages, and dis-
cuss the latest hardware developments.
Quantum continues to bring com-
puter users into the electronic fold.
The recent agreement to bundle its
PC-Link software into Tandy’s new
Deskmate 3.0 integrated productivity
and graphics interface software pack-
age promises to increase the legions of
personal computing enthusiasts who
have made telecommunications a
stranger no more. □
ACT IVISTON]
; HOME COMPUTER SOFTWARE I
FAX
To :
Mike Dornbrook (INFOCOM)
cc: Geoffrey Mulligan
From:
Date:
Winrich Derlien
09.10.86
Re: Software of the year
The "Software of the Year" Is annually selected by six European
and one American magazine under the direction of the German
"CHIP" magazine.
Winner in the "Entertainment" category is
Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy.
The award will be handed over on October 16 in Cologne. If you like
to send somebody of your company to this event, please let me know.
By the way: Leather Goddess js of Phoboes has become Software of the
year with another leading magazine, "Happy Computer", in the
category "Textadventure" .
Regards
Wi nnie
CC ■ £
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TM
RECREATIONAL SOFTWARE
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy • Infocom * M ac gm. at
Microsoft Flight Simulator • Microsoft • IBM
Flight Simulator II • Sublogic • AP, C64 AT
Lode Runner • Broderbund • AP, IBM, MAC, C64, AT
Sargon III • Hayden Software • AP, IBM, MAC, C64
Zork I • Infocom • AP, IBM, MAC, AT, CP/M, DEC, TIP
Trivia Fever • Professional Software • AP IBM, MAC, C64
Goto • Spectrum Holobyte • IBM
Wizardry • Sir-Tech Software • AP, IBM
King’s Quest • Sierra On-Line • APe, IBM
Ultima III • Origin Systems • AP, IBM, C64, AT
Summer Games • Epyx • AP, C64, AT
Millionaire • Bluechip Software • AP, IBM, MAC, C64
Bruce Lee • Datasoft • AP, IBM, C64, AT
Zaxxon • Datasoft • AP
Deadline • Infocom - AP, IBM, MAC, C64, AT, CP/M, DEC. TIP
Dragonworid • Telarium • AP, IBM, C64
MacAttack • Miles Computing • MAC
Zork II • Infocom • AP, IBM, MAC, AT, CP/M, DEC, TIP
Murder by the Dozen • CBS Software • AP, IBM, MAC, C64
HOME SOFTWARE
Print Shop • Broderbund • AP, C64
Print Shop Graphics Library • Broderbund • AP
Home Acct. • Arrays/Cont. • ap. apc, ibm, mac, C64. at, tip, eps
Bank Street Writer • Broderbund • AP, APc, IBM, C64. AT
Dollars & $ense • Monogram • AP, APc, IBM, MAC, TIP
Micro Cookbook • Virtual Combinatics • AP, IBM
Tax Advantage • Arrays/Continental .ap, ibm, PCjr, C64, at
Homeword • Sierra On-Line • AP, IBM, C64, AT
Mac the Knife .Miles Computing • MAC
Mueif* lAfntrlre - U/^v/H<or» Qr>fH */<'-'! re* - N/lAf - "
This
Week
Last
Week
Weeks
on
Chart
RECREATION
1
1
103
Flight Simulator II • Sublogic • AT, C64, A P
2
2
99
Flight Simulator • Microsoft • IBM
MAC AT
3
4
6
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Infocom • C64 1BM AP
4
3
55
Sargon III • Hayden Software • AP, C64, IBM, MAC
5
6
119
Zork 1 • Infocom • AP, DEC, IBM, AT, MAC, TIP
6
5
72
Lode Runner • Broderbund • AT, C64, IBM, AP, MAC
7
11
2
Suspect • Infocom • AP, MAC, IBM, AT
8
8
56
Ultima III • Origin Systems • AP, AT, IBM, C64
9
7
119
Wizardry • Sir-Tech Software • IBM, AP
10
9
10
Trivia Fever • Professional Software • C64, AP, IBM
11
10
61
Millionaire • Bluechip Software • MAC, AP, C64, IBM, AT
12
12
97
Zork III • Infocom • IBM, AP, TRS, MAC, DEC, AT, CP/M, TIP, C64
13
13
115
Zork II • Infocom • TRS, DEC, IBM, AP, AT, CP/M, TIP, MAC
14
14
32
Summer Games • Epyx • AP, C64, AT
15
—
1
Ground Zero • MindSports • MAC
16
16
19
Murder by the Dozen • CBS Software • C64, MAC, IBM, AP
17
17
3
MacAttack • Miles Computing • MAC
18
18
7
Gato • Spectrum Holobyte • IBM
19
15
9
Cutthroats • Infocom • IBM, AP, MAC, AT
20
20
104
* Frogger • Sierra On-Line • IBM, AP, AT, C64, VIC, MAC
21
19
30
Transylvania • Penguin Software • AP, C64, MAC
22
27
84
Zaxxon • Datasoft • AP
23
24
117
Deadline • Infocom • DEC, IBM, TRS, AT, C64, CP/M, TIP, MAC, AP
24
22
41
Planetfall • Infocom • MAC, TIP, IBM, CP/M, ap, TRS, DEC, AT, C64
25
28
27
Beyond Castle Wolfenstein • Muse Company • AP, C64
26
—
1
Baron • Bluechip Software • IBM, MAC, C64, AP
27
21
25
Seastalker • Infocom • MAC, C64 IBM, AP, AT
28
—
1
Spy Hunter • Sega Consumer Products • AP, AT, IBM, C64
29
—
48
Witness • Infocom • AT, DEC, C64, AP, MAC, IBM, TRS, TIP
30
-■■■■■
1
^ Mac Vegas • Videx • MAC
This
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
R
RECREATION
Flight Simulator II • Sublogic • AT, C64, AP
Flight Simulator • Microsoft • IBM
Sargon III • Hayden Software • AP, C64, IBM, MAC
Zork I • Infocom • CP/M, AP, DEC, IBM, AT, MAC, TIP
Wizardry • Sir-Tech • IBM, AP
Ultima III • Origin Systems • AP, AT, IBM, C64
r . .., _ . ^ J r MAC, AT,
Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy • Infocom • C64 )BM AP
Trivia Fever • Professional Software • C64, AP, IBM, PCjr
Millionaire • Bluechip Software • MAC, AP, C64, IBM, AT
Zork II • Infocom • TRS, IBM, AP, AT, CP/M, TIP, MAC
Frogger • Sierra On-Line • IBM, AT, AP, C64, MAC
Championship Lode Runner • Broderbund • AP, C64
Cutthroats • Infocom • IBM, AP, MAC, AT
Deadline • Infocom • DEC, IBM, TRS, AT, C64, CP/M, MAC, AP
Sorcerer • Infocom • C64, MAC, TRS, AT, IBM, AP
Summer Games • Epyx • AP, C64, AT
Beyond Castle Wolfenstein • Muse Company • C64, APc
Transylvania • Penguin Software • AP, C64, MAC
Lode Runner • Broderbund • AT, C64, IBM, AP
Zork III • Infocom • IBM, AP, TRS, MAC, DEC, AT, CP/M, TIP, C64
Zaxxon • Datasoft • AP
Pitstop II • Epyx • C64
Murder by the Dozen • CBS Software • C64, MAC, IBM, AP
Bruce Lee • Datasoft • C64, AP, AT
Ultima II • Sierra On-Line • C64, AT, IBM, AP, PCjr
Seastalker • Infocom • MAC, C64, IBM, AP, AT
Enchanter • Infocom • TRS, TIP, AT, IBM, DEC, AP, C64
Gato • Spectrum Holobyte • IBM, PCjr
Witness • Infocom • AT, DEC, C64, AP, MAC, IBM, TRS, TIP
Planetfall • Infocom • TRS, MAC, IBM, CP/M, AP, DEC, AT, C64
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TOP 1 0 COMPUTER SOFTWARE
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by Ron Scibilia
I MERGE AND UN-MERGE: Culver City, CA-based software publisher AshtonTate (dBase II, dBase
M, Framework) agrees to buy E. Hartford, CT-based MultiMate International (MultiMate word pro-
cessor) for $19 million. Deal, says Ashton-Tate, will raise that firm’s annual revenues by 25 percent to
an estimated $100 million. Meanwhile, distributors First Software, Micro D announce termination of
their proposed marriage plan. Union reportedly nixed by accountants for tax
reasons. . . .Inglewood, CA-based distributor Softsel intends "hard sell" of
new posture stressing company's role as double-threat firm carrying
both hardware, software. Softsel plans new hardware pricing policy
with higher dealer profit, separate dealer price book for hardware,
eight -page hardware ad insert ....
Peripherals supplier Tecmar introduces Phonegate 2400, 2400-baud Hayes-compatible internal
modem, telephone interface on 10-inch board for IBM PC, PC/XT, AT, Tandy 1000, Compaq, other PC
compatibles. Unit priced at $789, features support for telephone set, off-hook detection, touch tone,
decoding, pulse/touch tone dialing, plus data communications capabilities. Modem includes two soft-
ware programs: Telephone Management Software, which turns user’s computer, telephone into in-
telligent voice communications system; Respond data communications package. Phonegate 2400
can be combined with Tecmar’s Voice Recognition, Voice Companion boards, allowing user to issue
verbal commands to computer, leave spoken responses to computer-voiced ques-
tions. .. .Corona Data Systems slashes suggested retail prices up to 49
percent on 400 Series of desktop, transportable IBM PC-compatibles.
Two-drive PPC -400-22, 10 Mbyte hard disk PPC-400-XT transportables
reduced from $2,795 to $1,495 and $4,295 to $2,295 respectively,
representing 47 percent cut. New prices for desktops show 45 percent
reductions: single-drive PC-400- 12 from $2,445 to $1,345; two-dnve
PC-400-22 from $2,650 to S 1,495; 10 Mbyte hard disk PC-400-HD2
from $4,150 to $2,295. . . .
Meanwhile, at Zenith Data Systems, downward price adjustments set on certain IBM PC-
compatibles in line introduced last May: Z-158 PC desktop, with two microprocessor speeds, drops
from $2,499 to $2,199 for one-drive 128K RAM model, from $2,899 to $2,499 for two-drive 256K
RAM model, from $4,099 to $3,699 for 10 Mbyte hard disk 256K RAM version; entry-level Z-148 PC
desktop drops from $1,899 to $1,499 for one-drive 128K RAM system, from $2,199 to $1,799 for
two-drive 256K RAM version. Transportable Z-138, 24-pounder now tagged at $1,699, down from
$1,999, for 128K RAM one-drive model, $1,999, down from $2,299, for 256K RAM two-drive
unit TeleVideo Systems, San lose, CA, bows two fast new daisy
wheel printers: $1,495 TP 780, which is Diablo 630-compatible, offers
"print-in-flight" technology with 90 cps (aaa), 67 cps (Shannon) print
speed; $1,195 TP 760, also Diablo 630 command set-compatible, is a
60 cps unit ....
Victor Company of Japan, better known here as JVC, shows new one-third height, 3.5-inch micro-
sized hard disk drive using single platter. Two models in new JD-38 series, initially to be marketed on
OEM basis, are JD-3806M with 5 megabytes formatted capacity, JD-3812M with 10 megabytes for-
matted capacity. Drives are 1 .14 inches high by 4 inches wide by 5.5 inches deep; both feature low
weight (1 .47 lbs.), low power consumption (no more than 8 watts). Supplier sees wide range of use in
portables, small computers.... Accolade, start-up home computer entertain-
ment software supplier based in Cupertino, CA, debuts new joystick-
controlled baseball game— Hardball— with graphics, action resembling
televised contest. Game features 3-dimensional field perspectives, in-
j- ToplOGlfflM
E
HRchMkar'a Quid* to tha Qalaiy (AP,
AT, CM, IBM, MAC) Infocom
3
E
Qato (AP. IBM, MAC)
Spectrum Holobyte
3
E
Karatka (AP, CM)
Broderbund
a
E
Fight Simulator H (AP, AT, CM)
Sublogic
s
E
M S Strika Eagla (AP, AT, CM, IBM)
MicroProse
pi
Wlahbringar (AP, AT, CM. IBM. MAC)
Infocom
E
Spy Hunt* (AP, AT, CM, IBM)
Simon &. Schuster
10
iL
Fight Simulator (IBM)
Microsoft
4
| Q ! Ultima III (AP, AT, CM, IBM, MAC)
1 * I Origin Systems
■■ 1
j
4 J A ! Sargon III (AP, CM. IBM, MAC)
1U j Hayden
8
Top 5 Educational
E
Typing Tutor III (AP, CM, IBM, MAC, Jr) i 4 !
Simon & Schuster
4 A j Now Improved MastarTypa (AP, AT, j A
| ■ : CM, IBM, MAC) Scarborough ; ■
l!
Math Blaatar! (AP, CM, IBM) j A
Davidson & Associates » j
4 A ! Turbo Tutor (AP, IBM) C
| j Borland International J ® j
li
Word Attackl (AP, CM, IBM)
Davidson & Associates
Ltj
Top 5 Home Management
E
Print Shop (AP. AT, CM) ! 4
Broderbund | ■
E
Tha Nawaroom (AP, CM, IBM)
Springboard
3
li.
Print Shop Qraphica library K (AP, AT,
CM' Broderbund
-
4 b/* Straat Writ* (AP, AT, CM, IBM)
Broderbund
eluding centerfield pitcher/batter view, behind-the-plate views of
rightfield, leftfield. Player can choose right- or left-handed hurler,
throw fast balls, sliders, curves, screwballs, change-ups, sinkers. Game
includes managerial decision-making: intentional walks, substitu-
tions, bunts, base-stealing, infield/outfield player positioning.
Available for C64, Cl 28, Apple H family, $29.95, $34.95 respectively. □
HomaPak (AP, AT, CM, IBM)
B.itk'ni's Included
AP = Apple 11/Ile); AT = Atan 400/800 1200XL|
CM = Comn.odore 64 ; IBM = IBM PC, VIC = VlC-20,
TBS = TRS 80 11.111 & Color Computer,
MAC = Macintosh, Jr = IBM PCjr; APc » Apple lie
AS O F F I O E AT home
s f i’ r
M H f K I * « i
■ Thousand Oaks, CA-based Corona Data Systems bows transportable IBM PC AT-compatible
microcomputer, dubbed Corona AT Transportable (ATP). New 38-lb. computer, based like IBM AT on
Intel 80286 microprocessor, has built-in nine-inch green phosphor display with 640 x 400 resolution,
color/monochrome video graphics card, has five expansion slots (three AT-compatible; two XT-
compatible), includes parallel, serial ports. Two models available: ATP-6-QD, priced “under $4,500,”
features 1 .2 Mbyte floppy drive, one 360 Kbyte floppy drive, 512 KB RAM; ATP-6-Q20, priced “under
$5,500,” has 1.2 Mbyte floppy drive, 20 Mbyte hard disk drive plus AT-compatible hard disk con-
troller.... Leading software makers Lotus Development, AshtonTate
unveil products that work with new Intel Above Board circuit board
that vastly increases usable memory of IBM PC, compatibles. Cam-
bridge, MA-based Lotus announces enhanced versions of its Sym-
phony, 1-2-3 programs for new memory board, available summer, fall
respectively; Culver City, CA-based AshtonTate plans new version of
Framework for late summer release. Intel board, with technical input
by Lotus, permits IBM PC to surpass previous 640 Kbyte memory
limit set by MS-DOS operating system, reportedly offers up to 8
megabytes usable RAM for massive spreadsheet, database
applications ....
East Meets West: Santa Ana, CA-headquartered distributor Micro D says it has entered discus-
sions that could soon lead to merger with Lawrence, MA-based distributor First Software. Micro D
racked up $1 14 million sales last fiscal year; First Software $60 million .... AT&T now plans
to sell its home-grown family of WE32100 series 32-bit micro-
processors to outside computer manufacturers. AT&T expects to use
same chips in two forthcoming products, versions of its current 3B line
of minicomputers. Company indicates use of new chips in AT&T PCs
at least year away ....
Boston-based Yankee Group, high-tech market research, consulting firm, announces it will
distribute research work, newsletters, other information to subscribers via E-Pub electronic mail,
publishing network of Silver Spring, MD-based ITT Corp.’s Communications Group. Subscribers will
have immediate electronic access to research via new YankeeNet service, which also features elec-
tronic mail service. YankeeNet service costs $1,900 per year, entitles user to 750 minutes usage,
with additional usage billed at $150 per 250-minute block. . . .RCA Service Company
says it will provide nationwide warranty service on Commodore Inter-
national computers, disk drives, color monitors, also offer after-
warranty service, long-term service contracts ....
Anchor Automation, Van Nuys, CA, now providing five-year warranty at no extra cost on com-
pany’s $299 300/1200 autodial/autoanswer Volksmodem 12 model, introduced last November. Sup-
plier claims warranty longest available in industry for “smart” modem. . . .Hewlett-Packard
intros new software programs, Jetstart, Laserstart, developed by Soft-
Style, Inc. to provide Apple Macintosh users with text, graphics output
from HP's Thinkjet, LaserJet printers. Prices: Jetstart $45; Laserstart
$95; prices include documentation, standard Mac cable ....
Digital Research bows first end-user application programs-GEM Desktop, GEM Draw-taking ad-
vantage of company’s Graphics Environment Manager (GEM) operating system extension that brings
Macintosh-like interface to MS-DOS computers. DRI also announces two other GEM applica-
tions— GEM Paint, GEM Write — to be bundled as GEM Collection with GEM Desktop. GEM Desktop
priced at $49.95; GEM Draw carries $149 introductory tag until August 31 , $249 thereafter. GEM Col-
lection, to be released mid-June, priced at $199. Slated for July release are GEM Wordchart, $149;
GEM Graph, $199 Gershwin, Liberace at Computer Keyboard: 85-year-
old Buffalo, NY-based QRS Music Rolls, Inc. intros software, on floppy
disk, that lets Commodore 64 emulate musical instruments. QRS also
making available its library of over 10,000 piano rolls, on $19.95 six-
song floppy disk "albums." □
TOP 1 0 COMPUTER SOFTWARE
.£1 Top 10 Games
LJ
Flight Simulator II (AP, AT. C64) j
Suhlogic
f!
•
Hitchhiker’* Guide to the Galaxy { A
(AP, AT, C64, IBM. MAC) Infocom *
li
Karateka (AP) A
Broderbund O
Li.
Flight Simulator (IBM) a
Microsoft ; V
LU
Sargon III (AP, C64, IBM, MAC) £
Hayden W j
H
Zork (AP, AT, C64, IBM, MAC, TRS) i
Infocom *
Li
Lode Runner (AP, AT. MAC)
Broderbund
Li
King’* Guest (AP, IBM)
Sierra On-Line
LI
Wizardry (AP)
Sir-Tech i “ (
u
Exodus: Ultima III (AP, AT. C64, IBM) A
Origin Systems ' w
Top 5 Educational
c
New Improved MasterType (AP, AT.
C64, IBM, MAC) Scarborough
hi
Typing Tutor III (AP.C64, IBM, MAC) A
Simon & Schuster ■ j
I 3
Math Blasted (AP.C64.IBM)
Davidson & Associates
3
Li
Mind Prober (AP, C64, IBM, MAC)
Human Edge Software
h
Reader Rabbit and the Fabulous Word i
Factory (AP, C64, IBM) Learning Co. j
Top 5 Home Management
h
Print Shop (AP, AT, C64)
Broderbund
2
[Z
h
The Newsroom (AP, AT, C64)
Springboard
Li
Print Shop Graphics Library (AP, AT j
C64) Broderbund __
Li
DoNars A Sanaa (AP, IBM, MAC) | £
Monogram ^ J
I s
HomePak (AP, AT, C64, BM)
Batteries Included
2
AP = Apple (II/IIe); AT = Atari
C84 = Commodore 64 ; BM = IBM PC;
TRS = TRS-80 II/III & Color Computer
MAC = Macintosh; Jr = IBM PC)r ; A Pc-App«_
TOP 1 0 COMPUTER SOFTWARE
n
Top 10 Gums
L art
i i
M 1
F*gM Sinnriator 1 (AP, AT, C54)
Sublogic
1
I 2
Zfffc (AP, AT, C$4, BM. MAC, TRS)
Infocom/Commodore/Tandy
2
I 3
tarpon ■ (AP, C$4, BM, MAC)
Hayden
6
|<
Sfeardry(AP,BM)
Sir-Tech
7
|5
TiMa Faaar (AP, C$4, BM PCjr)
Professional Software
4
I 6
Exodua: UWma ■ (AP, AT, C64, BM)
Origin Systems
5
1’
HhchNkar't Quid* to Dm Galaxy (AP,
AT, C64, BM, MAC) Infocom
-
I 8
Championship Loda Rumtar (AP, C64)
Broderbund
I 9
Star Laagua Baaabal (AT, C64)
Gamestar
9
|10
Summer Gamas (AP, AT, C64, BM)
Epyx
8
TU»
Mmi
Top 5 Educational
LM
Monti.
I*
MaaterTypa (AP, AT, C64, BM)
Scarborough
1
I 2
Math Slatted (AP, C84, BM)
Davidson & Associates
3
I 3
Typing Tutor B(AP,C64,BM)
Simon & Schuster
2
I 4
Study Program for tha SJLT. (AP, C$4,
BM, PCjr) Barrons
4
I s
Maatartng tha SJLT. (AP, C$4, BM)
CBS Software
TWs
Moath
Top 5 Home Management
LM
MaaU
|1
Mart md Sanaa (AP, APc, BM, MAC)
Monogram
1
I 2
Bank Straat Writer (AP, APc, AT, C$4)
Broderbund
2
! 3
Print Shop (AP)
Broderbund
3
I 4
MinatAin Vmu m /«H|\
■nigny tow wonoy iomj
MECA
I s
Mama Accountant (AP, APc, AT, C$4,
BM, TRS) Arrays/Continental
4
AP= Apple (n/Dc); AT -Atari 400/800 1200XL,
CM “Commodore 64, Ml ~ IBM PC; VIC -VIC-20
TBS=TRS-80 n/Ul & Color Computer;
KAC = Macintosh; Jr-IBM PCjr; APc - Apple He
by Ron Scibilia IM
■ Xerox inks third distribution pact with Apple Computer. New three-year deal has Xerox marketing
and servicing Apple products in 15 Central and South American countries. Xerox will sell through
retailers, also on direct basis to government accounts, large businesses. Xerox already markets Ap-
ple wares in Canada and France.... Osbome/McGraw-Hill announces The
BASIC Explorer for the Commodore 64, which teaches BASIC pro-
gramming language via form of suspense novel. Text for $11.95 book
scripted by award-winning TV, film writer Lee Berman with software
developer Ken Leonard ....
Software Arts, Wellesley, MA, creator of VisiCalc, announces end-user ad strategy for new
“Spotlight’’ desktop management pc program. Ads slated to run in Sports Illustrated, Business Week,
U.S. News & World Report, plus various computer industry publications. New 1 .1 version, which sup-
ports IBM PC AT, now offers autodialing capability Apple Computer is supporting
electronic delivery system for software designed by San Diego, CA-
based Softra, according to Apple II software marketing manager Sue
Ann Ambroii. Softra uses proprietary point-of-sale terminal in retail
store, supphes dealers with original documentation, folder containing
prelabeled blank diskettes. System supports all 5.25-inch floppy disk
drive systems, will soon handle Macintosh 3.5-inch format ....
Cambridge, MA-headquartered Spinnaker Software releases new educational software program,
President’s Choice, that uses U.S. economy and electoral process to help players learn basic
political and economic concepts. Player in new game for IBM PC and PCjr assumes role of newly
elected U.S. President with objective of winning reelection by successfully managing national
economy. .. .Brainworks, new Calabasas, CA-headquartered software
publisher, has new program, TeleChess, that permits two players to
conduct chess game by modem utilizing two-way color animated
graphics. Program initially available for Apple n, later for Mac, IBM
PC. Brainworks founded by Edu-Ware services creator, Sherwin A.
Steffin. . . .
Writing tool specialists Writing Consultants, of Fairport, NY, announces new $124.95 computer-
ized thesaurus program, Synonym Finder, compatible with WordStar, MuttiMate, other WP programs.
Thesaurus, claims firm, holds equivalent of 90,000 word dictionary. Program available for MS-DOS,
PC-D0S and CP/M-80 operating systems for WordStar versions 3.0 through 3.3 and MuttiMate MS-
DOS, PC-D0S versions. Company also publishes ProportionalStar, which adds proportional spacing
capability to Wordstar. . . .Orbyte Software intros History Flash, new $29.95
program in supplier's ChallengeWare Social Studies series. Program
takes user through 400 years of facts about U.S., from 1492 New World
discovery to present ....
Five hundred radio stations around country plan to broadcast computer software. So-called “soft-
casts” to be satellite-distributed by Learfield Communications. Listeners receive software via special
device developed by Redmond, WA-based Microperipheral Corp. KAMT, Tacoma, WA, has weekly
program already called Download — MicroAge Computer Stores, of Tempe, AZ,
signs letter of intent with 34-store Programs Unlimited chain to per-
mit selected stores of latter operation to convert to MicroAge fran-
chises. MicroAge has 122 franchises currently, 46 in development
San Rafael, CA-headquartered Broderbund Software releases $44.95 Commodore 64 version of hit
program, the Print Shop, already available for Apple II, which enables user to write, design and print
greeting cards, stationery, letterhead, signs and banners. Atari version on way. Users can buy sup-
plemental disk with 120 additional designs for $24.95. Broderbund also adds new music composing
program for Commodore 64, The Music Shop, tagged at $44.95, with Mac, PCjr versions coming
soon Haba Systems, of Van Nuys, CA, bows 320KB 3.5-inch
microfloppy disk drive for Apple He, He, and Macintosh bundled with
specially developed four-program utility software package. Price for He,
Be drive $449.95, for Macintosh $495. □
COMPUTER ElECTRONlCS/|ANUARY 19*5 A15
WASHINGTON, DC
USA TODAY
-D. 1 ,109.587—
WASHINGTON DC. METROPOLITAN AREA
JAN 15 I9B5
NEW TECH
IN THE HOME
EVERY TUESDAY: LIVING WITH TECHNOLOGY
THE COMPUTER ROOM
What's new in computer programs for sale
GAMES:
Chopper Hunt (Imagjc for Commodore 64, $19.95) — After
the rush of exciting new software prospects presented at
last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it’s a
disappointment to find a new release so stark and unimagi-
native. The concept Drop “sod bombs” from your hovering
copter and blast your way down to buried treasure. But the
concept is repetitious and the grapics are mediocre. Hold
out a few weeks. There’s better material on the way.
Mindshadow (Activision for Commodore 64, $29.95) —
One of the first interactive adventures not to require prior
computer experience, Mindshadow “lalks" the user
through every step of this intriguing quest for a lost identity.
The on-screen directions are aided by clever illustrations
and a “help character” named Jeeves offering hints during
tough spots. For the less adventuresome, a tutorial option
(nocost extra) offers simple lessons in negotiating the text
landscape. (Available for IBM PCjr and Apple II.)
VARIETY:
Smart Start (Muse Software for Commodore 64, $29.95) —
This software program harnesses the abilities of the Com-
modore 64 and puts them at the fingertips of even a first-
time computer user. By repackaging often-used sequences
of commands into single requests, Smart Start makes the
basic commands as easy as hitting the return button, and
greatly simplifies the use of the Commodore’s sound and
graphics features.
Blazing Paddles (Baudville for Apple n series, $49.95) —
An array of graphic features for the computer illustrator
designed to take up where most free-system software stops.
Artists can choose from more than 200 different colors, a
variety of brush strokes, airb rushing and a zoom feature
allowing the editing of individual pixels — TV-screen dots
— while viewing the results at full scale. Works with touch
tablet joy stick, light pen or mouse, then prints out on most
dot matrix printers. It’s really a tool for the artist desiring
professional-quality results.
EDUCATION:
Cabbage Patch Kids Picture Show (Coleco for Adam and
ColecoVision, $39.95) — An animation and cartooning pro-
gram for the elementary-school crowd. Using standard con-
trollers, children choose from blank or predrawn scenes,
put props in place, use a 15-color palette for interior deco-
rating, then clothe and put into action any of five Cabbage
Patch characters. It’s easy to use and learn. Ages 4 to 10.
By Marc Randolph
WHAT’S HOT
Top-selling home computer programs
RECREATION
1. Flight Simulator (Microsoft) 6
2. Flight Simulator II (Sublogic) 1 ,3’
3. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Infocom) 1 ,2, 3, 6,1 1
T Zork / (Infocom) 1 ,2, 4, 5,6, 8,1 1
flT Sargon III (Hayden) 1 ,3,6
EDUCATION
1. Master Type (Scarborough) 1,2, 3, 6*
2. Typing Tutor II (Microsoft) 1
3. Math Blaster! (Davidson & Associates) 1 ,3,6
4. Mind Prober (Human Edge) 1,3,6,7,11,12,13
5. Early Games for Young Children (Springboard) 1 ,2,3,6
HOME
1 . Dollars & Sense (Monogram) 1 ,4,5,6
2. Bank Street Writer (Broderbund) 3,4,5
3. Managing Your Money (Microeducation) 1
4. Homeward (Sierra On-Line) 1,2, 3, 6, 7
5. Music Works (Hayden) 1 1
Source: Softsel Hot List. Based on Softsei’s Sales only: rankings
do not reflect sales of products distributed by other companies.
*1. Apple, 2. Atari, 3. Commodore 64, 4. CP/M 514-inch and 8-inch
formats, 5. DEC Rainbow, 6. IBM-PC, 7. PCjr, 8. Texas Instru-
ments Professional, 9. TRS-80, 10. Commodore Vic-20, 11. Mac-
intosh, 12. Apple lie, 13. Apple lie
U. /U.3/3 — i. 00,0 J/
FT MYERS CAPE CORAL METRO AREA
RFC i 1984
Top of tfcs charts
By Gannett News Service
The week’s lists are based on
national sales figures compiled by
leading industry publications.
Hot singles
1 . Out of Touch, Hall and Oates
2. Wake Me Up Before You Go-
Go, Wham
3. 1 Feel For You, Chaka Khan
4. The Wild Boys. Duran Duran
5. All Through the Night, Cyndi
Lauper
6. No More Lonely Nights, Paul
McCartney
/ . Sea of Love, Honeydrippers
8. Penny Lover, Lionel Richie
9. Cool It Now, New Edition
1 0. We Belong, Pat Benatar
Top albums
1. Purple Rain, Prince and The
Revolution
2. Bom in the U.S.A., Bruce
Springsteen
3. Private Dancer. Tina Turner
4. Volume One, The Honevdrip-
pe"
* Big Bam Boom, Daryl Hall &
Jc " Oates
The Woman in Red, Sound-
U . \
. . Can’t Slow Down, Lionel Richie
6 . Sports, Huey Lewis & The News
9. Arena. Duran Duran
10 . Like a Virgin, Madonna
Country singles
1. Chance of Lovin’ You, Earl
Thomas Conley
2. Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,
Anne Murray and Dave Loggins
3. She’s My Rock, George Jones
4. Why Not Me, The Judds
5. 1 Love Only You, Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band
6. World’s Greatest Lover, The
Bellamy Bros.
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross
Your Mind, George Strait
8. America, Waylon Jennings
9. The Best Year of My Life, Ed-
die Rabbitt
1 0. Too Good to Stop Now, Mickey
Gilley
Black singles
1. Solid, Ashford and Simpson
2. Cool It Now, New Edition
3. 1 Feel for You, Chaka Khan
4 . Friends-Five Minutes of Funk,
Whodini
5. Show Me, Glenn Jones
6. Don’t Stop, Jeffrey Osborne
7. Purple Rain, Prince and The
Revolution
7. Show Me, Glenn Jones
8. Tears, The Force MD’s
9. Let It All Blow, The Dazz Band
10. Operator, Midnight Star
Source: Billboard
Video cassettes
Sales
1- The Empire St ikes Back (CBS-
Fox)
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Par-
amount) <
3. Jane Fonda’s Workout (Karl)
4. Romancing the Stone (CBS-
Fox) •
5. Purple Rain (Warner)
Rentals
1. Romancing the Stone (CBS-
Fox)
2. Splash (Touc’.'stone)
3. Greystoke: Ti»e Legend of Tar-
zan, Lord of the Apes (Warner)
4. Moscow on the Hudson (RCA-
Columbia) *
Movies
1. Supergirl
2. Missing in Action
3. The Terminator
4. Oh God! You Devil
5. Night of the Comet
6. Falling in Love
7. J ust the Way You Are
8. Places in the Heart
9. Nightmare on Elm Street
10. A Soldier’s Story
Source: Variety
Fiction
1. The Talisman, Stephen King
and Peter Straub
2. Love and War, John Jakes
3. The Fourth Protocol, Freder-
ick Forsyth
4. Strong Medicine, Arthur Hai-
ley
5. Stillwatch, Mary Higgins Clark
6. God Knows, Joseph Heller
7. ... And Ladies of the Club, Helen
Hoover Santmyer
8. Life Its Ownself, Dan Jenkins
9. The Sicilian, Mario Puzo
10. First Among Equals, Jeffrey
Archer
Non-fiction
1. Iacocca: An Autobiography,
Lee Iacocca with William Novak
2. Loving Each Other, Leo Bus-
caglia
3. What They Don’t Teach You at
Harvard Business School Mark Mc-
Cormack
4 The One Minute Salesperson,
Sper cer Johnson and Larry Wilson
5. The Bridge Across Forever,
Richard Bach
6. Pieces of My Mind, Andrew A.
Rooney
7. Heritage: Civilization and the
Jews, Abba Eban
8. “The Good War”: An Oral His-
tory of World War II, Studs Terkel
9. Moses the Kitten, James Her-
riot
10. Nothing Down (revised edi-
tion), Robert G. Allen
5. The Empire Strikes Back (CBS-
Fox)
Source: Billboard
Computer programs
Recreation
1. Flight Simulator II (Sublogic)
1,3(AS)
2. Flight Simulator (Microsoft) 6
3. Sargon III (Hayden) 1 ,3,6
4 . Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal-
axy jlnfoc om) 1,2,3,6,11
5. Lode Runner (Broderbund)
1,2, 3, 6
CODE: 1. Apple, 2. Atari, 3. Com-
modore 64, 4. CP/M, 5. DEC Rain-
bow, 6. IBM-PC, 7. PCjr, 8. Texas
Instruments, 9. TRS-80, 10. Commo-
dore Vic-20, 11. Macintosh, 12. Apple
E, 13. Apple C.
Cam*****- n»Lll«L lit
, • - :
' ■
•« - -Xt-V "• ' ■ '« -' v .
tiling
Du w . $)
-stop to pick his
idn’t buy the Co-
I after the chain’s
with Brown’s de-
there on and off
“For the first
of its existence,
1 the best store in
ys of the outlet,
ss than 600 square
records virtually
.rood Saturday we
le lined up 10 and
citing to get in.”
days are gone, so
ggressive pricing
r’s predecessors
ring Discount Re-
.var that dropped
$3.49 before Dis-
e towel and raised
,ays the legacy of
lition of lowballing
^trip, where there
filers as well as a
ire dealing in front-
s difficult for some-
’ he says.
e 1> “ vt marked the
jS J ht have been
enemy. Although
policies killed the
cept, the chain was
,f several lawsuits,
tually lost interest,
ust fell by the way-
eiber. “After five
i tired of it and dis-
le record business,
luietly charismatic
cted people and got
rk for him under
t do it in the ’80s;
ame outlaw mental-
t was such a ragtag
ometimes it worked
it didn’t. But it was
lea that people cared
FOR WEEK ENDING JANUA RY 19, 1985 — — — — — — — ^
BillboardTQP COMPUTER SOKTWi
B&W or. full
color
For FANS &
r >MO
made from
print or
negative
O
Ul
68 NEW IMPROVED MASTER TYPE Scarborough
Educational program that teaches touch typing to ages 7
to adult in an exciting video game format in 1 8 different
lessons.
49
16
51
16
10
18
23
11
MUSIC CONSTRUCTION SET
Interactive music composition and learning tool enables
Electronic Arts user t0 wor k W | t h a library of music or compose own.
TYPING TUTOR III
Simon & Schuster
Program That Develops Speed, and shows progress
inTyping Speed and Accuracy.
MATH BLASTER!
Contains over 600 problems in addition, subtraction,
Davidson & Associates multiplication, division, fractions and decimals ■ for
students ages 6 through 1 2, with a game at the end
SAMPLE SAT
FACE MAKER
Sample Test Module
Educational program designed to introduce children, ages
4 through 8, to the computer keyboard and the concept of
programming
STICKY BEARS ABC
Xerox Education
TYPING TUTOR II
Microsoft
Educational Program designed to help children ages 3 to 6
in learning the alphabet. Program includes games that
teach. ' —
Typing program that teaches to type and also to build
faster typing skills. Program also monitors speed.
Designed for students, grades 4 • 1 2, to teach new words.
WORD ATTACK!
Davidson & Associates their meanings and their usages in an interesting and
exciting way
FRACTION FEVER
Spinaker
An educational game designed to teach people aged 7 to
adult about fractions.
HNG FEBRUARY 9. 19B5
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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS WEEKLY
NEW YORK, NY
W. N/A
q
0
198
yi“ —
Top 10 Movers In Computer Games**
This Month
1
Last Month
1
Flight Simulator II (AP, AT,
C64, TRS)— Sublogic
This Month
6
Last Month
6
Lode Runner (AP, C64)—
Broderbund
2
2
Flight Simulator (IBM)—
Microsoft
7
8
Wizardry (AP, IBM)—
Sir-Tech
3
3
Hitchhiker’s Guide (AP, AT, C64,
TRS, IBM)-flrffocora
8
—
Ultima III (AP, AT, C64,
IBM)— Origin Systems
4
5
Zork 1 (AP, AT, C64, IBM^
TRS)— Infocom
9
9
Millionaire (AP, AT, C64,
IBM)— Bluechip Software
5
4
Sargon III (AP, C64, IBM,
Mac)— Hayden Software
10
10
Trivia Fever (AP, C64, IBM)—
Professional {Software
'Based on rotating list of leading retailers.
SAP — Apple (ll/lle/llc); AT— Atari 600XU800XL; C64— Commodore 64; IBM-
VIC — VIC 20; TRS — TRS 80 ll/lll & Color Computer; Mac — Macintosh
-IBM PC; IBMjr-
-IBM PCjr;
\
i
t
j
{
r
COME CAST A
SPELL WITH ME
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
Leads an Invasion of the Pros
Roe Adams
We welcome our new Adventure Game Editor,
Roe Adams, to the pages of CGW. “Come
Cast a Spell With Me” is just one of the con-
tributions Hoe wil be bringing to our readers.
In 1984 companies and machines fell by
the wayside with incredible regularily.
Some to thunderous applause, others with
silent tears. In retrospect, however, one of
the most significant trends to enter the
microcomputer field in 1984 was the debut
of top fiction writers into adventure game
designing. In the past, even the best adven-
ture games have been written by ordinary
people (well, not counting Michael Berlyn,
who is, after all, hardly ordinary).
The craft of adventure game designing ap-
parently has matured sufficiently to entice
some of the finest science fiction and fan-
tasy writers to take a fling with a computer.
Alas, for most of these authors, who shall
mercifully remain anonymous, the results
can only be described as flops. In some
cases, the big-name author contributed only
their illustrious name or perhaps a cursory
wave of their hand over the scenario design
in benediction. Other authors were totally
mesmerized by computer jargon and sur-
rendered their talent to the whims of third
rate programmers. The resultant quality of
these type of efforts has been mediocre to
abysmal. There really is no adequate
substitution for original thinking, clear con-
cepts, and masterful writing. Putting the
name Maserati on a K-car fools only the
advertising people.
The two authors who really delved deep
into this new and somewhat mysterious
realm of computer adventure games have
succeeded with excellent results: Michael
Crichton’s AMAZON, published by
Telarium (a.k.a Trillium, a.k.a. Spinnaker
Software), and Douglas Adams’ HITCH-
HIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, pub-
lished by Infocom (a.k.a. Grues Unlimited
Industrious).
Crichton is famous for writing THE AN-
DROMEDA STRAIN, and THE TERMIN-
AL MAN. The entire hi-res adventure game
construct is Crichton’s from start to finish.
He worked closely with the programmer
and the graphics illustrator to ensure that
none of the story nuances were sacrificed.
The cohesive manner in which the game’s
storyline unfolds reflects Crichton’s skill as
a writer.
AMAZON is also notable for its use, if
sparingly, of beautiful scrolling animation.
The fantastic opening, which scans a
One of the most
significant trends . . .
in 1984 was the debut
of top fiction writers
into adventure
designing
massacred jungle campsite, completely
rivets the player. It is so good, that when the
game proceeds to the regular static screens,
it is quite a wrench and a lingering feeling
of loss. Similar rare animation treats await
the player at strategic spots in the scenario.
The game also represents a new break
through in the genre: A book will be pub-
lished based upon the scenario, instead of
the other way around. AMAZON proves
what Crichton has been quoted as saying,
“This is the future of fiction, and it is fun.”
Douglas Adams, who emphatically
denies being solely responsible for all of
British humor, has approached his under-
taking in an entirely different manner. He
sought out the industry’s premier adventure
game house, Infocom, and suggested a col-
laboration to bring forth the computerized
version of his international bestseller,
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GAL-
AXY. This book has been a gigantic hit in
book format, television and radio shows,
and a not-so-soon to-be-released motion
picture.
Infocom’s illustrious grandmasters of
game design, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling,
were however busy with other pursuits.
17
ytfcA
Blank was last seen doing death defying
loop the loops in the Grand Canyon, and
Lebling was hanging around the Hart Man-
sion looking SUSPECT. So, Infocom’s
hottest second generation game designer,
Steve Meretzky (Planetfall and Sorcerer) got
the awesome privilege of working with the
hyperfamous Douglas Adams
Actually, Meretzky was partly chosen
because he.is so unflappable and stoic and
not prone to awe or hyperness. He can han-
dle highly volatile humor for long periods
of time without self-destructing. Who else
within Infocom’s vast corporate (or is it now
Empire-wide) headquarters could have
countered Douglas Adams’ infamous
multicolored bright ties so effectively and
casually? Meretzky’s use of differently pat-
terned 1950's Ugly American Hawaiian
Dress Shirts was rumored to be responsible
for Adams inventing the peril-sensitive
sunglasses (a sample is enclosed with the
game). Watching them work together is in-
spiring, as they thrust and parry
understatements. Brilliant non sequiturs
follow jabs of incongruities. In half an hour
Meretzky and Adams have generated an en-
tire year’s worth of outines for Gallagher.
The game unfolds writh all the majestic
splendor of Douglas Adams’ irreverent
humor, lovingly expounded in great detail.
In other words, at first, it is VERY slow go-
ing for the veteran adventure game player.
That unfortunate aspect is balanced by the
fact that for any novice wouldbe Douglas
Adams fan who has miraculously missed
touching any of the four books, seeing the
BBC television series, hearing the radio
show, or tasting the unreleased movie, the
beginning of the scenario is highly odorous.
A fast perusal of the first hundred or so
pages of the HITCHHIKER book will be
decidedly helpful in grasping the full
significance of the mud, the pub, and the
babel fish.
Rumors are circulating that several im-
portant people within the industry cannot
(snicker, snicker!!!) even get out of HITCH-
HIKER’S first room! Seems to be a game
whose players rise to their own level of in-
competency. Now that is quite a break
through in design!
The segment that has the babel fish puz-
zle also marks a significant shift in game
play. Cher a breakfast of poached Bugblatter
on toast, Douglas Adams confided that the
scenario design was pear shaped: “Just as
the player gets comfortable in the narrow
neck, the bottom drops out!” From there on,
the adventurer is in for a non-stop roller
coaster of laughs and delicious puzzles.
The range of puzzles is from novice to ex-
pert with m»st of them falling into the
standard-advanced category. Unlike other
authors, Douglas got far into the core of the
game design and worked cm the puzzle con-
structs. So great was the depth of collabora-
tion between Adams and Meretzky, that it
is impossible even for them to decide who
Continued on page 38
CAST SPELL (cont.)
conjured up which puzzles. The scope is
certainly impressive. Try to cheer up Mar-
vin, the manic-depressant robot; search
yourself for a small bit of intelligence; fillet
a babel fish; balance a platter of hor
d'oeuvres; swim up a pillar of water; take
a screening test; or play Jonah. Does all this
sound impossible? Well, no. it is only
improbable!
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GAL-
AXY will undoubtedly be voted as the best
adventure game of either 1984 or 1985, with
an honorable mention for its highly im-
aginative graphics. Douglas turned down hi-
res graphics, animation, laser disk, and
plasma screens as being too staid to fully
convey the brilliance of the scenes in the
game Only Infocom’s famous slogan,
“Here's MUD(DLE) in your eye!" would
serve as the perfect foil for Douglas’s
delicate hues and cries.
When he was asked whether he would
consider doing a sequel to this game (after
all. he has three other books lying around
collecting royalties), Douglas responded, “I
feel the need to branch out into new vistas
of creative work, and to explore new fron-
tiers. I would really like to do another com-
puter adventure, but on a different topic.”
The interview ended when I, not so in-
nocently, suggested, “How about Dr Who?”
Note: Douglas Ada ms was the script editor
for many reincarnations of the long running
British Dr. Who television show.
AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND THE WORLD (ATW), akin to ALI
BABA‘ and ULTIMA 1 . offers you a role-
playing global challenge filled with adventure,
danger, and dozens of friends and foes, from
cardinals to cannibals, asps to tigers ATW
is unparalleled in scope, with 40 endless
scrolling regions - from London through the
African jungles and the Orient to New York
ATW has game saves and a high score Hall
of Fame No two games are ever the same
For a price much less than other graphic
adventures, you can embark on your own
global odyssey So order NOW'
For all ATARI’ 48K - $29 95
oroer SUPERware Dea*'
now! 2028 Kmgshouse Rd inquires
Silver Spring. MD 20904 lnv ?f * a
(301) 236 4459
MC VISA AMX Check. M 0 accepted
Include S2 00 shipping MO residents add 5^ tax
Circle 50 on Reader Service Card
COSMIC BALANCE (cont.)
LEARN GAME (cont.)
Turn eleven: four breaches. Another
cheer on the bridge.
Turn twelve, three more breaches. En-
couraged, Greenlaw belayed any thoughts
of warping out. “We’ve got her now!” he
thought.
Turn thirteen, three more breaches.
And then turn fourteen. . .
Just when Greenlaw had her where he
wanted her; under heavy fighter attack and
no longer able to put up any effective attack
herself, he lost her. . .
Wisconsin w’arped out.
□ □ □
The final score of the battle was:
Greenlaw’s Fleet— 150; Wisconsin— 187; for
a total of + 37 for Wisconsin. That coupled
with the fact that she had destroyed both
Kirk Robinson’s Dreadnought T.A.B. (Thud
And Blunder) and Mark Bausman's Dread-
nought Judge (real catchy name), meant that
Wisconsin, designed by Fred Brooks of
Newport Beach CA, was one of only two
ships that had a positive score against all
three judges. The other was Zeus, a tech-6
dreadnought designed by Richard Leach of
Cumberland, RI.
There were 37 entries in this year’s con-
test. Most entries were tech-6 dreadnoughts,
as was Wisconsin.
There were several tech-1 four-ship en-
tries (nearly all being two motherships with
two small escorts). The highest finishing
ship in this catagory was Red Squadron sub-
mitted by Roger Cooper of Westbury NY.
Red Squadron was basically four small
asteroids with fighter bays. No drives, no
shields. Just a range of one and 70 armor.
Greenlaw’s six fighter squadrons breached
on every turn. I couldn’t figure out how in
the world (or universe for that matter) these
ships could be surviving six shield breaches
each turn and still be around at turn 10. Post
combat analysis revealed their true nature.
How do you get a range of one with no
drives? I guess they had a hand crank warp
drive. While Red Squadron was a for-
midable foe for Greenlaw’s Fleet and Judge;
T.A.B.’s plasma torpedo was the perfect
weapon against all that armor. After several
turns of close-in attacks with plasma
torpedoes T.A.B. inflicted sever damage.
But she had to warp out as the fighters began
to take their toll.
Transporter ships did not fair well. All
three judges adopted a policy of opening
range early. The two dreadnought judges
would only close on turn eight or when
when they were sure they were not facing
a transporter ship Even if boarded on turn
eight they would most likely have the range
to warp out on turn ten.
The designs, for the most part, showed im-
provement over last year’s. Congratulations
to all participants. And remember: The key
to Cosmic Balance is balance!
you learn more names and dates, but the ap-
proach used in T Rex is more fun.
Another fascinating and novel game from
CBS is called Weather Tamers ($39 95 for
C-64 only). This one puts you in control of
futuristic satellites that let you manipulate
air masses over the U.S.; your job is to try
to make money by providing people in dif-
ferent places with the weather they want on
the day they want. Getting it to snow for a
ski party in Vermont in January is one thing,
getting it to rain on crops in Arizona in
August is another! In the process, you learn
a lot about what makes our weather.
OTHER TRENDS
There is a scramble to associate
characters from comics and TV with games
for young children. The characters from
Sesame Street, Peanuts, Dr. Seuess, and
even B.C. and Wizard of Id now appear in
programs. Now what I’d like to see is to have
Pac-Man — who’s already made it to
breakfast cereal and Saturday morning TV
— return in an educational game. Now
that’s irony.
While the number of new titles is im-
pressive. it’s also worth noting that a lot of
conversions were done in 1984. Many pro-
grams written originally for Apple and Atari
were made available for the Commodore 64
and, to a lesser extent, for the IBM. I wonder
if 1985 will see the same thing for the Mac-
intosh or if new machines from Commodore
or Atari will steal the show.
38
‘Hitchhiker’s’ Trip:
From Best Seller to Computer Game
By D.
Wa
By Hal Glatzer
Las Vegas, Nev.
Douglas Adams’s "The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy" and its three sequels
have sold millions of copies. The latest in-
stallment in this wry. sci-fi cult series, "So
Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" (Har-
mony, $12.95), is rising to the top of the
best-seller lists. But the "Hitchhiker" phe-
nomenon is not just a sales whopper for
the book business. Indeed, the book was a
spinoff from a BBC radio series that aired
in 1978. Since then, “Hitchhiker" has
spread through nearly every medium of
popular entertainment. And now it has
been transmogrified into a computer
game.
Despite the appearance of several com-
- puters in the book, Mr. Adams now says
that, "When I wrote it, I was very suspi-
cious of computers.” He overcame his
trepidation, however, and by the end of
1984 had collaborated with a leading com-
puter-game maker to produce a “text-ad-
venture” version of the “Guide" that
comes on a floppy disk.
Mr. Adams found an expert guide of
his own to collaborate with on this new
venture. He’s Steve Maretzky, senior game
designer for Inform, in Cambridge,
Mass., a pionel^nn the field. Mr.
Maretzky explains that, unlike an action
game such as “Space Invaders,” really an
electronic shooting gallery, a text-adven-
ture game is more like a novel whose'
words appear on the computer screen. But
text-adventure games are interactive; the
player assumes a role in the book. The
leading text-adventure games are “Dun-
geons and Dragons,” "Zork” and “Dead-
line.”
In the Jnfccmti “Hitchhiker’s Guide”
the player wclfros the book's protagonist,
Arthur Dent. “As you part the curtains,”
the computer tells the player at the begin-
ning of the game, “you see that it’s a
bright morning, the sun is shining, the
birds are singing, the meadows are bloom-
ing, and a large yellow bulldozer is ad-
vancing on your home.”
You (Arthur) decide to take inventory
of what you’ve got, hoping that something
in your house will stop the bulldozer. So
you type “Take inventory," and the com-
puter replies that “You have a splitting
headache and no tea.”
That’s the way Mr. Adams writes, and
it was in a similar vein that he recently
discussed his experiences working in vari-
ous media. No longer a cyberphobe, he
was happily wandering around the enor-
mous Computer Dealers’ Expo held here
late last year.
“I'm hooked,” he said. “The series
started out making fun of computers, but I
got bitten by the technology. Now I have
piles of computers that people have given
me.”
In this brave new world, Mr. Adams ap-
pears finally to have found a nonliterary
medium that suits him-and one he can
control to his liking. He couldn’t exploit the
BBC radio show (rebroadcast here by Na-
tional Public Radio), since "those BBC re-
cordings were not usable for records, be-
cause of copyright restrictions. So we cut
out the boring bits, and had better sound
effects, for the record albums. But the
thing as a whole was not, as good as the ra-
dio play. It had the feel of a remake.”
Mr. Adams wasn't too enthusiastic ei-
ther about various theatrical adaptations
of his work in Britain. “The silliest one,”
he recalled, “was produced by an eccen-
tric man, Ken Campbell, who had the audi-
ence on a Hovercraft inside a warehouse.
The platform moved from side to side, and
the actors were hanging on the walls.
“I was less keen on the TV show,” he
admitted. “It was slowly and stodgily di-
rected.” (Also a BBC production, it was
shown in the U.S. on public television in
1983 'and 1984.) What Mr. Adams found
most frustrating was that, "Where a radio
show is intimate, with a small group-and
very intense -television production typi-
cally involves hundreds of people, all of
whom are only half-engaged. I remember
asking for something visual that I thought
would be very unusual and exciting, and
one of the crew said, ‘Oh yes, that’s effect
8C.’ ” However, Mr. Adams did like the
special effects that showed what the Guide
was displaying; “They were done outside
the BBC.”
He’s also brushed up against Hollywood
recently, working on a feature-length film
script for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide” (“It’ll
be produced by Ivan Reitman, who did a
little film-you may have heard of it-
A Temporary Epidemic of Good Taste
By Jl’lie Salamon
I, for one, am not depressed by the fact
that one out of every three tickets sold at
movie houses over the lingering Christmas
season has gone to “Beverly Hills Cop.”
The only trends I ' can divine from
this action comedy’s success are
these: People like to laugh. They espe-
cially like to laugh at Eddie Murphy, who
is extremely funny. Neither of these pheno-
mena seems like a bad thing to me.
Don’t forget that at this time a year
ago, the top of Variety’s Top Grossing film
list was dominated by "Hot Dog ... the
Movie” and “Angel” (you remember:
high-school honor student by day, Holly-
wood hooker by night). That was some-
thing to get depressed about.
Indeed it seems as though an epidemic
of good taste has temporarily overtaken
the moviegoing public. For example, "The
Mutilator,” a movie about a slasher on the
ioose, is fizzling at the box office. And
"Avenging Angel," the sequel to “Angel"
(she’s now a law-school student by day,
vigilante by night) is performing only mod-
estly well.
The medicore performance of "Aveng-
Film
“Sunday in the Country,” "Birdy” and
"Choose Me.”
* * *
Meanwhile, some new movies are mak-
ing their way into theaters. One of these,
“Maria’s "Lovers,” is an oddly beguiling
film about a World War II veteran’s diffi-
cult re-induction into civilian life. Mainly,
he has trouble consummating his marriage
to his childhood sweetheart, Maria (Nas-
tassja Kinski).
Soviet director Andrei Konchalovsky,
who has lived in France for the past five
years, filmed this picture in Brownsville,
Pa. Most of the actors, with the exception
of Ms. Kinski, are Americans speaking
English. Yet the movie feels abstract, like
She loves him, too. The problem arises on
their wedding night. “I love you so much
my whole body falls apart," he says to her,
sadly, after his body fails him.
Into the middle of this family drama
wanders Clarence Butts, an itinerant
singer who locates smoldering young
women like a heat-seeking missile. Keith
Carradine, who plays Butts, also plays a
similar role in "Choose Me,” and has this
character down pat. He is entirely convinc-
ing as the kind of guy cheap novels tend to
describe as “a man who undresses women
with his eyes.” And, of course, he doesn’t
stop there.
Mr. Konchalovsky manages to make
something lyrical and moving out of these
characters and the Pennsylvania river
town where they live. But “Maria’s
Lovers” makes me feel the way I some-
times do after talking with a gorgeous but
vague person: "Gosh I liked looking at
him. But what did he say?”
* * *
"Fandango” is the second movie to
come out of Steven Spielberg's production
company, Amblin Entertainment. The first
was “Gremlins,” Joe Dante’s mean-spir-
ited and successful turn on “E.T.” and
dozens of other movies.
Written and directed by Hollywood new-
f’OT-nrtr* ■ --in * ,T ? r n
called ’Ghostbusters’ "). The contract he
signed is a typical film writer’s contract,
which gives him very little control over.the
finished product. "I think it says that they
have to hold onto my letters for a year, or
something, before they can bum them,” he
says. He’s particularly nettled at having no
control over casting. “I've known Simon
Jones for years, and I wrote the part of Ar-
thur Dent in radio and television for him , ”
he says, but he points out that there is no
guarantee that his friend will play Arthur
in the film.
The adaptation of “The Hitchhiker’s
Guide” to a computer game, however,
gave Mr. Adams near-total control of the
content. “It was a pleasant experience,”
he recalled. “Christopher Cerf was the cat-
alyst: He made the connection between In-
focom and myself, saying that their games
might be intelligent, witty, literate and
stylish enough.”
But unlike the other adaptations, “the
computer game wasn't a question of re-
thinking. It was like starting from scratch.
I could take stuff out of the book, and
didn’t have to follow it slavishly. The book
became a bank of ideas. In fact, I looked
for things that weren’t well-developed in
the book: odd lines that seemed to go no-
where.” Among those things that are only
casually mentioned in the book, but which
become significant elements in the game,
are the “Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of
Traal” and the “microscopic space battle
fleet that is swallowed by a dog.”
“The place where it’s closest to the
book is the opening. Anyone who’s alive,"
he said, “will find the first few things to
get through, providing they can type and
don’t kick the computer over. It gets pro-
gressively hardei" as the game goes on-
harder to solve problems, harder to keep
track of everything that's going on.”
The game comes in a package about the
size of a hardbound book, and costs $39.95.
It includes the floppy disk (for either IBM-
PC or Apple II), and a few bits of tangible
trivia that “Hitchhiker” enthusiasts will
crave: a plastic envelope containing that
microscopic space fleet; Zaphod Beeble-
brox’s sunglasses, which go totally black
when he’s in danger; and a pm-on button
that says “DonjtPmiic!'’ Players are ad-
vised in th^nSrucnon manual to “know
where your towel is." “The Hitchhiker’s
Guide” explains why you should.
Is there another collaboration with Info-
corn in the future? "I’d be surprised if we v
didn't," Mr. Adams says, "but I can t say
yet. I’m pretty happy with the game. Of
course, as with anything you’ve finished,
you wish you’d done some things differ-
ently. Overall, though, I came out of the
experience with a greater sense of what’s
actually achievable with computers. And
every so often, I remember bits we put in
it, and I chortle to myself.”
Mr. GlaUer writes frequently about
computers and communication.
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INSIDE VIEW
i
Douglas Adams
and
Steve Meretzky
Designers Behind
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Sharon Darling, Research Assistant
T he happy result of those
two very different back-
grounds is a microcom-
puter game version of
the popular Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy.
It took six years for Adams'
original idea of a story about a
guide to the universe — similar
in nature to those books on how
to travel the continent using
one's thumb — to come to fru-
ition. However, that idea,
launched while Adams was
hitchhiking through Europe,
quickly snowballed from a sim-
ple concept into a long-lasting
fad which has put such phrases
• as "don't panic" and "don't for-
get your towel" into the vocab-
ulary of millions of people, first
in England, and then in the
United States.
The first volume quickly led
to three other books: The Res-
taurant at the End of the Uni-
verse; Life , the Universe and
42 COMPUTEfs Gazette April 1985
Take two minds that have
created some very witty
books and computer games,
put them together, and what
do you get? The zany game
version of The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
Everything; and So Long, and
Thanks for All the Fish.
Imagine yourself as hapless
Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered
Englishman who is quite fond of
ale from the local pub. Upon
groggily waking up one morning
with a terrific headache from too
much beer at that same pub, you
discover that your house is sched-
uled to be demolished in order to
make room for a new highway.
Little do you realize that that
is the least of your worries to-
day — for earth is scheduled to be
destroyed, also— to make room for
an intergalactic bypass.
From there you begin a
journey through the universe,
accompanied by your friend
Ford Prefect, a professed actor
who is really a roving researcher
for the Guide (a sort of comput-
erized radio that's hooked into a
encyclopedic database, very
useful for hitchhikers). In real-
ity, he's also an alien who hails
from near the star Betelgeuse. .
Prefect's mission on Earth: To
come up with a more detailed
description of the planet than
the two words contained in the
Guide's current issue: "mostly
harmless."
Since the game doesn't
hinge on the action in the book,
players don't need to have read
Hitchhiker's Guide in order to
play it, Meretzky says. "If
you've read the book, it will
probably make the first part of
the game a bit easier for you,
but that's about it," he adds.
But both Adams and
Meretzky worked long and hard
Curriculum Vitae, Steven
Meretzku ■
P/flce 0/ birth: United States
Graduate, Massachusetts Institute
time. Eventually moved up to
writing games.
Game writing credits; Planetfall
of Technology (MIT), breeding
ground for many of Infocom
computer game designers. V\
history: Before realizing his
fork
mg as a computer game des
l worked in construction prop
management; started playlet
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to make sure the game was
faithful to the book, while at the
same time turning it into a new
adventure. What they did weave
into the fabric of the game were
detailed explanations of events
that are mentioned only briefly
in the book.
"In some ways it's easier,
and in some ways, it's harder"
to write a game from a book,
versus using an original concept,
says Meretzky. "It's easier be-
cause you have some constraints
on the universe you're going to
be designing, and on the charac-
ters you're going to be using . . .
and you don't have to come up
with as many ideas.
"On the other hand, there's
more of a challenge because you
want to take advantage of the
features of an interactive game,
and you don't want it to be just
a translation of the book, be-
cause the book is necessarily
linear. If it was just a transla-
tion," he adds, "there wouldn't
be any reason to do it at all.
You have to avoid getting into
the trap of 'well, this is the way
it was in the book, so this is the
way it has to be in the game.' "
April 1985
T ackling computer games was
a new experience for Ad-
ams, even though he has Ford
Prefect referring to the Guide as
an electronic book, a familiar
computer term today, but a new
concept in 1977. “As far as I
was concerned, it was com-
pletely imaginary," Adams says.
"I didn't even become computer
literate until about a year ago,
whereupon it suddenly sort of
swept over me like a tidal wave."
Author, humorist, and com-
poser Christopher Cerf brought
Adams and Infocom together.
"I'd seen Infocom's games in
detail, and one or two other ad-
venture games briefly," Adams
says. "I'd not been interested,
but Infocom's were obviously a
great deal better than the oth-
ers — they'd been written with
style, wit, and intelligence, and I
just felt that here were guys on
the same wavelength."
Adams' ideas about adapt-
ing a creative work in print
form to video perhaps explains
how Hitchhiker's Guide has
maintained its integrity and
style in all its various permuta-
tions. "Rather than just picking
up a book and entering it into
the computer, you have to go all
the way back to the very jumble
of ideas about what might be in
it, just a sort of feeling about it.
"Then, you get interested in
the medium, and explore that
medium with some of those
ideas in mind, rather than doing
just straight text. The nice thing
about Hitchhikers/' he adds, "is
it's not a concrete story, it's not
particularly firm in any one me-
dium — it's just a set of ap-
proaches and attitudes, with a
few rough ideas about some
characters."
That fluidity meant that
there were several points in the
book's story line where Adams
and Meretzky could let their
imaginations loose to create new
situations for the game version.
One thing that remained intact,
though, was the humor inherent
in the book.
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"A lot of the same humor is
explicitly there, just in the text
of the game," Meretzky says.
"Also, a lot of humor is created
just by using the style of the
game." For example, one com-
mand common to all Infocom
games is "inventory," where
you find out everything you are
carrying at any particular mo-
ment. At the start of Hitchhiker,
you are told that Arthur Dent's
inventory consists of a) no tea,
and b) a splitting headache.
O ne convention carried over
from the book was foot-
notes, which are sprinkled
throughout Adams' novel. "I
thought there must be some
way to incorporate [those] into
the game," Meretzky recalls.
"So what happens is, at various
points in the text of the game,
you'll see a reference to a foot-
note, and simply as your turn,
you type in footnote 12, or
whatever, and you get the text."
While some of the footnotes
are straightforward, they can be
amusing, such as one referenc-
ing a ray gun that never seems
to work properly. "It's not a
very good ray gun, is it?" the
game responds to that footnote.
"There's a lot of that, kind of
taking a step back from the
game and laughing at it from
the outside," Meretzky says.
Tutting British humor into
perspective for an American au-
dience never posed a problem,
Adams says. "I tend to feel the
difference between English and
American humor is much more
apparent than real. I've never
had the slightest problem in en-
joying American humor. Every-
one told me I was going to have
immense difficulty in getting
American audiences to respond
to Hitchhiker, which has abso-
lutely not been the case."
The book's humor has suc-
ceeded on both shores of the
Atlantic perhaps because Adams
didn't have any particular audi-
ence in mind, besides himself,
when he wrote it in 1977. "Tar-
geting something toward a par-
ticular audience, that's not
something writers do, that's
something that marketing or ad-
vertising people do," Adams
feels. "I'm not selling tooth-
paste, I'm making ideas."
The process of translating
those ideas from a novel to a
computer game took about eight
months, with Meretzky and Ad-
ams first meeting for about a
week in Boston to map out the
game's general direction. Then,
Adams returned to England, and
the two corresponded daily
through electronic mail.
"When we had got a lot of
it sitting there waiting to make
sense, and not apparently being
about to do that, Steve came
over to England, and we ham-
mered out answers to make it
look as if the way it ended was
what we'd intended all along,"
Adams recalls.
During the writing process,
Meretzky says he tried to
closely emulate Adams' style.
Apparently, he succeeded, as
Adams commented once that he
couldn't tell whether he or
Meretzky had written certain
parts of the text.
As your game's journey continues,
your survival depends on a very
motley crew. Playing Arthur
Dent, you've survived Earth's de-
struction by hitching a ride on a
passing spaceship, but you're not
sure that was really as lucky an
occurrence as it first seemed. For
now, your fate rests zvith two-
46 COMPUTEI's Gazette April 1985
headed Zaphod Beeblebrox, presi-
dent of the Imperial Galactic Gov-
ernment; his girlfriend, Trillion,
whom you realize is the same girl
you tried to pick up at a party re-
cently; Ford Prefect; and Marvin,
a paranoid android. Good luck.
Meretzky says one of the
main reasons he was chosen to
work with Adams was because
of his previous work with co-
medic science fiction in Planetfall,
an award-winning game. He was
also a Hitchhiker fan, as were
most of the folks at Infocom.
The two started out their
collaboration by following the
plot of the book closely. Then,
"I guess he (Adams) got used to
the idea of writing interactively,
and the more I got used to the
idea of giving him ideas and of
working with him, the more the
ideas started to flow," Meretzky
says. "By the end, we had way
more ideas than we were able to
use."
All those extra ideas that
never made it into the game are
"definitely" enough for a se-
quel, Meretzky adds. However,
don't necessarily look for a fifth
book in the Hitchhiker saga, Ad-
ams says. He claims the recently
released fourth novel is the
"final, final, final one. There is
definitely, definitely, definitely
not another one after this — at
least not for a while."
But don't panic. Audiences
both here and abroad have not
heard the last from Adams.
After filming is completed on
the movie version of Hitchhik-
er's Guide , he says his next
project will probably be a
screenplay. A novel based on
that movie will be written after-
ward, he says.
And Meretzky also has
. more games up his sleeve.
While he's got some science fic-
tion game ideas in mind, he's
also contemplating a mystery
game, which would be a new
area for him.
Until then, enjoy your jour-
ney through the galaxy. And
don't forget your towel. G
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electronic
About Our Cover
You knew the man who
wrote Hitchhiker's Guide
had to be funny, right?
Right.
Background photo:
The Image Bank
Photo of Douglas Adams:
Tom Weihs
ELECTRONIC GAMES (ISSN0730-6687)
is published monthly by Reese Com-
munications, Inc. , 460 West 34th Street,
New York. NY 10001. Second-class
postage paid at New York. NY and addi-
tional mailing office. © 1985 by Reese
Communications, Inc. All rights reser-
ved. 0 under Universal, International
and Pan American Copyright Convet-
nions Reproduction of the editorial or
pictorial content in any manner is pro-
hibited. Single copy price, $2.95. Sub-
scription rates: 12 issues, $28; Canada,
12 issues. $32; foreign, air mail only, 12
issues. $64, U.S. funds. Address sub-
scription orders and correspondence to
ELECTRONIC GAMES P 0. Box 1128,
Dover. NJ 07801 or call (201) 361-9550.
Change of address takes 60 days to
process; send old address label, new
address and zip code. All material listed
in this magazine is subject to manufac-
turer's change without notice, and pub-
lisher assumes no responsibility for such
changes. Printed in the U.S A,
POSTMASTER: Send address
change; to ELECTRONIC GAMES,
P 0 Bo* 1128, Dover, N.J. 07801.
ON-LINE
6
A SPECIAL
MESSAGE
TO ALL READERS
8
READER REPLAY
10
HOTLINE
14
THE INFINITELY
IMPROBABLE
DOUG ADAMS
22
Hitch a ride with the man with a
Heart of Cold.
BOOTED UP
ANY GOOD
BOOKS LATELY?
26
Fiction moves off the bookshelves
and onto your monitor.
THERE'S A MODEM
TO THE
MADNESS
30
Telegaming: How to have fun
running up your phone bill.
SPECIAL
SOFTWARE
REPORT
32
Adventure games getting too tame? Build
your own with Adventure Construction Set.
WHAT COMPUTERS
DON'T KNOW
ABOUT
BASEBALL
36
If computers are so smart, why can't
the Oakland A's win a pennant?
DOUG ADAMS/Pg. 22
BOOTED-UP BOOKS/Pg. 26
HOW TO VAPORIZE
FRIENDS AND
Deep in the heart of Texas,
Photon warriors are living out
fantasies of galactic domination
KAY POWER 40
Apple's Alan Kay talks about computing.
He does windows, too.
INFLUENCE
PEOPLE
COMPUTER
GAMING
SECTION 44
Rescue Raiders
Robot Odyssey I
The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the
Galaxy
Shadowkeep
Suspect
On-Court Tennis
Robots of Dawn
Lucifer's Realm
Fahrenheit 451
Cabbage Patch
Picture Show
Injured Engine
Playwriter
Bank Street
MusicWriter
Co mpuzzler
Cyberv/orld
Twirlybird
Ollie's Follies
Cavelord
Rock 'n' Rhythm
MacManager
An Apple A Day
B.C. II: Grog's
Revenge
Spelunker
INSERT COIN
HERE
58
The latest in laserdiscs, Thayer's
Quest comes with a keyboard.
HARD COPY
This month's book reviews include an
adventure game "crib sheet."
60
Q & A
64
GETTING
ORGANIZED
66
Everything from complete work
stations to disk storage cases.
YWARklNTW
UML-ffY. THFW
BARUIvT tlHUe.
YXX R K)R-
RnDTHKKIHr*.
MODEM MADNESS/Pg. 30
4 Electronic Games
electronic
Volume Three, Number Four
April, 1985
Thumbing An Electronic Ride
r his month’s cover subject
should be familiar to ad-
venture game aficionados. It is
none other than Doug Adams,
author, software designer, en-
trepreneur, hotelier, British bon
vivant, and the creator of Hitch-
hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At
this writing, Hitchhiker's is run-
ning a strong number three on
the Softsel bestseller list, and
anyone who has played the
game knows why: it is not only
a masterful work of interactive
fiction, it is also the first pro-
gram that intentionally lies to
the player. I might also add that
this is one diskette that has
wreaked havoc with our dead-
lines. The travails of Arthur
Dent seem to be booted up at
some very odd times in the edi-
tors' offices here.
Our profile of Doug Adams
was written by National Editor
Roe Adams. Roe reports:
“Doug is a delight to interview.
I’ll bet most people are unaware
that he spends a lot of time with
his friend, Terry Jones, of the
famed Monty Python comedy
troupe. They get their best ideas
after they've hoisted a few at
the local pub, and as you can
see with Doug's books, his
sense of humor is decidedly
droll, a la the Pythons. And the
Pythons, of course, are quintes-
se/itially British in their
approach to satire and comedy.
When a comedy club is opened
in space — and I have no doubt
that someday, they'll be com-
monplace — Doug Adams
should be the guy to do it. He’s
incredibly funny, even when
he's trying to be serious."
When he is serious he can be
found puttering around his five
home computers, the machine
of choice being the Macintosh.
Managing Editor Louise Kohl,
shown cavorting with our cover
boy on this page, was also smit-
ten by Adams. Something of an
amateur comedienne herself,
Kohl couldn't decide whether to
first ask Doug about Hitchhiker
or make a marriage proposal.
Photographer Tom Weihs said
his concentration was con-
tinually shaken by laughter as
the two traded witticisms during
the two-hour photo session.
Still, we managed to bring you
an incisive piece of reporting
about one of the most talented
and popular figures in science
fiction comedy and computer
adventure gaming. As for my
own Hitchhiker experience? I
can be found lying hopelessly in
front of the bulldozer.
* * *
In recent years, one particular
electronic gaming trend has
been quite simple to identify.
Computer software executives
would keep an eye on the
arcade scene and immediately
translate a hit to either an Atari
800, Apple II, Commodore,
whatever. The foundering
arcade business has been hum-
bled enough to begin to reverse
the trend. Broderbund's very
successful Lode Runner will
be released in the U.S. by Digital
Controls, Inc. as a coin-op up-
right. I'd also like to point out
that Roe Adams designed two
levels of Championship
Lode Runner, Mine and
Pachinko. (If you've ever been
to Japan, you've heard of
Pachinko, that nation’s pinball-
like parlor game.) Lode Runner,
the arcade game, is a big hit in
Japanese arcades.
Two and a half years ago,
while I was in Japan, the big
arcade game was Namco's
Pole Position, a Grand Prix
race car simulation. Tokyo
teenagers, mostly boys, waited
on very long lines to get to play
it while electronic Mah Jong
games were idle. Later, the
game came to the U.S. and did
quite well. Now, you can pop
into your local gaming house
and try a few different courses
on Pole Position II. Keep
your hands on the wheel.
— Doug Carr
G
Editorial Director
Doug Carr
Managing Editor
Louise Kohl
National Editor
Roe R. Adams III
Senior Editor
Steve Bloom
Associate Editor
Ben Templin
Assistant Editor
Daniel M. Goldberg
Strategy Editor
Frank Tetro Jr.
Midwest Editor
Rick Teverbaugh
Contributing Editors
Ted Salamone
Brian Scott
Neil Shapiro
Art Director
Ben Han/ey
Graphic Consultants
Creative Concepts
Illustrators
Michael Dooney
Duncan Eagleson
Armando Baez
Cover Photo
Tom Weihs
REESE
COMMUNICATIONS
INCORPORATED
President and Publisher
Jay Rosenfield
Production Manager
Laurie Ann Devereaux
Production Assistant
Kayt Kirk
Circulation Director
Joseph Muccigrosso
Subscription Manager
Rena Adler
Circulation Assistant
Carol James
New York
National Advertising Director
Diane Mick
460 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001
(212) 947-6500
East Coast
Advertising Representative
Lea Stein
460 West 34th Street
New York, N Y. 10001
(212) 947-6500
Chicago
Advertising Representative
Milton Gerber
1309 North Rand Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
(312) 253-7500
Advertising Coordinator
Angela Vitale
6 Electronic Games
Hitch a Ride
With Doug Adams ,
The Man With a
Heart of Gold.
Electronic Caines 23
voted following worldwide that the books
have obtained major cult status. While
many unenlighted people still respond,
"Who?" to a suggested viewing of a Dr.
Who episode, the mention of Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy elicits such com-
ments as "Now, that's funny!"; "What a
book!"; "Awesome"; "Isn't that the Carl
Perkins show?"; "The movie was ex-
cellent”; "I hear that Douglas Adams is
really Arthur Dent and that the book is an
autobiography"; and even a whispered "I
hear the guide is for real, honest." All of
the above is true except for the’ part about
the movie which wouldn't be released until
the turn of the millennium, and that bit
about Douglas being Arthur Dent. Anyone
who knows Douglas Adams well, would
know he was really Ford Prefect, the celes-
tial vagabond on an expense account.
Douglas Adams began only slightly
humorous. So, how does one learn to be
really funny? Well, it pays to be born into
an aristocracy noted for its unintentional
humor. Then go to an exclusive private
school that requires everyone to wear
hilarious uniforms, and where they turn
the worst students into lovely rocking
chairs. Finally, one should attend a world-
famous University that specializes in classic
comical curriculums. No, it is not Harvard
(good guess), or even Brown (which is
much closer to the truth), but, is in fact,
Cambridge. Ah, almost caught you there!
By ROE R. ADAMS III
\
I f you ever wake up one morning and
find yourself in a strange room with
a splitting headache and no tea,
where would you be? No, no, not
there (but what a deliciously naughty
thought). Rather, you’d be about to spend
a wondrous sojourn inside the fertile mind
of Douglas Adams, creator of Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
The four books in the Hitchhiker Trilogy
(that anomaly is consistent with known
improbabilities) have generated such a de-
It;
¥
"The game was more fun [than the books].
Writing a book is staring at a piece of paper until
your forehead bleeds."
n
st
l-
n
a.
ill
iis
to
ar
a.
-y
al
le
to
in
ie
er
ri-
iC
f ’s
as
?d
'S,
?d
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (might as
well run with your proven winner), and
promptly sold out. Little realizing that the
first book had only been bought as a
souvenir item by the departing Pan-
Galacticans at the end of their tour, Adams
wrote a second novel: The Restaurant at
the End of the Universe. This book was
appropriately placed in the culinary sec-
tions of the bookstores. Julia Child even did
a television show on how to properly pre-
pare a talking-steak dinner. Some dark
rumors circulated afterward about the
simultaneous disappearance of her arch
rival, the Galloping Gourmet. People,
however, rushed out to get the recipes
from the first book, as the second book
continued after the appetizers.
The BBC decided that if it was good
enough for the French Chef, then it was
good enough for British television. So, a
BBC television mini-series was done on the
books patterned after the maxi-series, The
Forsythe Saga. Belatedly realizing that
Adams Chronicles had already been
usurped as a title, the BBC imaginatively
called the series Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy. In true economical BBC fashion,
Steve Meretzky, co-perpetrator
with Douglas Adams of the electronic
version of the Hitchhiker's Guide.
the television series was a condensed ver-
sion of both books, thus saving the BBC
from paying out for two shows.
Now the initial book really started to hit
some sales figures. It was also first reported
being smuggled into the United States via
a case of Snickers. The desperate smug-
glers were thus able to bypass the numerous
federal agencies on guard for illegal British
humor.
Alas, the government's worst fears were
confirmed when the highly contagious
Hitchhiker proceeded to sweep the ranks
of science fiction readers in the United
States. The condition • reached epidemic
proportions when British press copies of
the third book, Life, the Universe, and
Everything, flowed over the borders from
Canada. Faced with the prospects of de-
toxifying thousands of rabid fans, the gov-
ernment capitulated and declared Douglas
Adams a schedule-one uncontrollable Brit-
ish humorist.
Official U.S. versions of Adams' books
now appeared everywhere to rave re-
views. Numerous radio stations broadcast
the old shows. Channel 2 in Boston, the
Continued on page 78
DOUG ADAMS
Continued from page 25
most avant-garde of the nation's PBS sta-
tions, even dared to show the highly sub-
versive BBC television series.
When the third book was released in the
United States, Life, the Universe and Every-
thing was immediately recognized as
heavy-duty philosophy. Therefore it was
put on bookstore shelves right next to Car-
los Castanada's latest book: The Teachings
of Ron Don: The Yankee Way to Knowl-
edge. Adams' third book immediately be-
came the darling of the coffee table set.
They, in turn, had to rush out and buy the
first two books since the third one made no
sense without reading the others first
(Now that really is profound.)
Douglas Adams was (and is) an in-
ternational celebrity. His U.S. tour was a
great success as he was lionized from coast
to coast. So delighted was he with the
overbearing American hospitality, tedious
talk shows, and unending dinner speeches
that he titled his fourth (and supposedly
final) Hitchhiker book, So Long and
Thanks for All the Fish.
What to do next? Let's see. ..books, rec-
ords (of the radio shows), television, stage
play (Off-Off-Off-Broadway. Liverpool
perhaps, or maybe it was the Orkneys),
even the obligatory movie contract. "Say",
said Adams one night, in a not-so-drunken
stupor, "How about a computer game ver-
sion!” (The difference between doing a
game or a book, Adams says, is that "A
game is fun. A book is staring at a piece of
paper until your forehead bleeds."
A quick marketing survey showed him
that a small adventure game company in
Cambridge, MA (note the auspicious loca-
tion, heavy Karmic influences, and Freud-
ian overtones) named Infocom owned
the entire computer text adventure field. In
fact, Douglas' first introduction to Infocom
was through playing Suspended, one of
the company's most mind-boggling
games. (Yes, he solved it.) It occurred to
"I really feel
the need to
branch out into
fresh areas
and clear
my head from
Hitchhiker."
him that here was a company with minds
as devious and eccentric as his own. He
decided to approach them about Hitchhik-
er's. Little did Adams realize that Infocom
was actually only leasing the highly lucra-
tive field from the Gnome of Zurich. In fact,
a check with the Frozboz Chamber of
Commerce would have revealed that In-
focom was in fact a front for a vast Un-
derground Empire. Many an adventure
game player had disappeared forever into
its clutches; their jobs, families, and sanity
ensnared by slavering Grues. The few that
escaped usually wandered around saying
"Hello, sailor," of "Frotz," and carrying a
strangely familiar lamp. The Chaucer of
Please send me copies of
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THE 1985 VIDEO TEST ANNUAL AND BUYER’S GUIDE
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78 Electronic Games
British humor was about to meet the
dreaded Masters of the Purple Prose.
Initial contact was made ethereally
through a transoceanic computer bulletin
board. Further discussions were held in a
variety of British pubs. It is even money
that one of them must have been The
White Hart in London; so appropriate with
Arthur C. Clarke's personal table in the far
corner, right next to the cheese sand-
wiches. Another creative locale was Hunt-
sham Court, a hotel in the village of Hunt-
sham, near Tiverton, Devon. Adams wrote
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish there,
and a lot of the electronic version of
Hitchhiker's as well. He also bought part of
the establishment. How did that come
about? "One night after a few drinks,"
says Adams, "it seemed like a good idea."
Adams insisted on only dealing with the
game designer who had the greatest sta-
ture in Infocom. Steve Meretzky, at 6’4”
was taller than Marc Blank, so he was
drafted.
Meretzky was one of Infocom's early
playtesters, and suffered from a terminal
case of "Boy, game design is a snap. Why,
even I could do a better job in a few weeks
than...." So, being highly sadistic, Infocom
gave Meretzky a chance to design a game.
Somehow the few weeks evolved into over
a year, but much to everyone's amaze-
ment (except Meretzky’s), the game was
fantastic. Who can forget Floyd's tragic
death? Planetfall earned Infocom a whole
shelf full of Best Game awards for that
year.
Even with Meretzky’s heavy credentials
in computer game design ( Planetfall and
Sorcerer, another stellar scenario), he
found it difficult to see eye-to-eye with
Adams on every aspect of the game de-
sign. (The rumor is that Adams' real height
is being kept a media secret in the U.S.,
because of his literary agent's fears that
Adams will be shanghied by the Boston
Celtics and never write again. He admits to
6'5".)
Luckily forcomputeradventurefans, the
design did not become a battle of the
Giants. Mutual respect was earned by the
exchange of outrageous jokes, a similar
fondness for wearing bizarre costumes
(you must see Meretzky in his gorilla suit at
some party), and sporting eye-blinding
clothing. Adams is infamous for his day-
glo ties that add new meaning to the
phrase Contact High. Meretzky counters
this with a collection of Dali-like Hawaiian
floral sport shirts. These are the same shirts
made famous by Americans traveling over-
seas in the 50's and 60’s before the Geneva
Convention ban on visual warfare.
The peril-sensitive sunglasses that were
developed for the computer game are
actual replicas of those worn by staff
members who had to sit in on lengthy con-
ferences when both Meretzky and Adams
were present. In fact, almost all the good-
ies enclosed with the game origin-
ally had other uses: The fluff was really
"The game
design is basically
pear-shaped.
After the player
gets comfortable
running
around the
narrow neck at
the beginning \,
the bottom
drops out."
used for earplugs to deaden the impact of
the puns. The official destruct orders were
actually coded hit contracts on Adams and
Meretzky put out by the bedraggled
playtesters. The baggy containing the
microscopic space fleet looks suspiciously
like the bag provided by the airlines in each
seat for heavy flying. The sales brochure is
really Adams' dummy Swiss company
that sells digital watches on late night
television (remember the Gnome of
Zurich). The Don't Panic button is, of
course, the Unimportant Red Button (can
you find the Important Green Button in the
packet before the Earth blows up?).
The only thing in the game package that
is what it seems to be is the "No Tea.”
Historians have long claimed that the en-
tire expansion of the British Empire was
based on the search for a real cup of tea. To
date, they have only found Advanced Sub-
stitute Tea, which explains the fall of the
Pound, the Falklands, the coal mine strike,
and Stonehenge.
A few people in the Himalayas have
written in and asked whether or not they
could enjoy playing the computer game
without having touched the books, seen
the TV shows, felt the play, heard the rec-
ords, or smelt a computer overheating
from twelve hours of obsessive playing. To
which Adams responded, "42!"
He further noted, "The game design is
essentially pear-shaped. After the begin-
ning player gets comfortable running
around the narrow neck at the beginning,
the bottom drops out.” What an un-
derstatement! With the babel fish prob-
lem, the game shifts into really high gear.
Many a seasoned player has been stumped
here for hours. It does not help that
Hitchhiker's is, in Adams' words, "the only
game that deliberately lies to you.”
Adams, however, has taken pity on
those less brilliant and warped — over
Meretzky’s pleas to "let them suffer.” For
the first time, an Infocom game actually
has hints to solving some of the puzzles
built right into the game itself. Admittedly,
they are mostly obscure, but nonetheless
actually there. A perceptive adventurer will
spot the clues quickly, but even the most
dilettante player can grasp them, if they
read all the text very carefully, and can
visualize the entire floorplan of a typical
Vogan space ship (copies of the floorplans
are available from the traveling bookmo-
bile run bv Wowbagger the Infinitely Pro-
longed).
The game ricochets all across the uni-
verse in a bewildering kaleidoscope of im-
probable pasts, presents, and futures. The
scenario design resembles a galactic pinball
game. Watch out for the Black Hole or you
may never get out again, and remember to
be careful what you say and do. In Adams's
universe causality is paramount. A stone
thrown here blows up planets over there.
Meretzky and Adams have designed In-
focom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
as really an artificial intelligence test. They
will find out just how artificial your in-
telligence really is. Try to deal with entire
ship equipped with Sirius Cybernetics
Corporation devices, whose motto is Share
and Enjoy. This is usually considered suf-
ficient cause through the galaxy for im-
mediate self-destruction in order to save
your sanity. See how good you are at
cheering up Marvin, who is a manic-
depressive robot. Need to open the screen-
ing door? Easy, just show it a little bit of
intelligence. The clue to salvation may
just be the "thing” your Aunt gave you
that you can not get rid of no matter how
hard you try. Then again, maybe not. At
the bottom of Adams's pear is the jammed
80 Electronic Carnes
hatch puzzle, This puzzle will grow on you
until it takes over your mind Beware the
Jabberwocks!
Now that Adams has conquered this
new medium (the game is already in the
top ten on the overall charts), what are his
plans? Will he do Son of Hitchhiker, or
Hitchhiker, Parts //-XXV? "No," says
Adams, "I really feel the need to branch
out into fresh areas and clear my head from
Hitchhiker. I certainly have enjoyed work-
ing with Infocom and would very much like
to do another adventure game, but on a
different topic." Adams compares adven-
ture games to movie-making in the early
1900’s: "It's a real novelty medium and
only the people doing them really know
how great they are."
Sitting across the breakfast table from
Meretzky and Adams is difficult indeed,
even wearing the peril-sensitive sunglas-
ses. The air between them seems to shim-
mer and blur. At times they bear a startling
resemblance to that maestro of self-
expediency, Zaphod Beeblebrox. The two
heads seem to share the same body. Per-
haps Zaphod is the end result of the cloned
collaboration.
"Remember," says Adams, leaning over
like a conspirator while chuckling di-
abolically, "To share the real feeling of the
game, enjoy everything."
So, now that you have stayed up all
night and have solved six impossible puz-
zles this morning, why not round it off with
breakfast at Milliway's. Go ahead. If you
have just finished this computer adventure
game, you have definitely earned it!
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1050. When connected to an RGB
personal computer (IBM PC and
PC compatibles, for example), the
scanning frequency jumps from
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Electronic Games 81
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up. As the manual points out, this
version lends itself to bibliographic
citations and abstracts. It gives tight
control over search terms (they’re
limited to the keywords you specify),
and it allows files to be as long as
user memory permits.
Both Programs Deliver
It’s really not necessary to com-
pare the two programs. Each does
its intended jobs with impressive
speed. List prices differ greatly, but
discounts may be available from
retailers. Where other differences
appear, some would seem to cancel
each other out. Zyindex’s array of
search connectors— particularly the
wild cards and “W in” command— is
truly elegant, but FYI 3000’s
vocabulary feature is very helpful.
Both user’s manuals are well writ-
ten, Zyindex’s the more so, and
begin with detailed tutorial pro-
grams that get you off to a quick,
safe start. Both programs would be
improved by quick-reference cards
to remind us of details such as the
correct sequences for loading disks.
Zyindex uses reverse video to pin-
point search terms’ appearances in
files, a welcome convenience. Menus
in both programs are clear and un-
ambiguous. A lot of disk-shuffling
does go on, partly because of copy-
protection and partly because the in-
dexes require such massive amounts
of disk space. A lot of disk -buying
goes on, since each filing system you
establish requires at least one disk
to hold the index addresses.
Adding entries to existing index
lists is relatively easy, but re-
indexing a list (which you’d typically
do after making changes in files) is
not the sort of thing you look for-
ward to.
Telephone calls to both manufac-
turers for assistance resulted in
cheerful, helpful responses. In one
case, a bug in FYI 3000 raised hob
with my rather exotic scheme for
printing out four-by-six cards, but
the company immediately sent a
disk with corrective patches on it.
Zyindex and FYI 3000 can dig
through monumental haystacks of
data and come up with the very
needle you’re after— all in a
reasonable amount of time. These
two programs live up to the promise
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GAMES
The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy
Go on a zany intergalactic odyssey in this adaptation of
the best-selling book
by Monte Schulz
Don’t panic: the interactive Hitch-
hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is every
bit as outrageous and funny as the
novel. The same oddball humor, pe-
culiar situations, and strange char-
acters come together in this inter-
active adventure as they do in Doug-
las Adams’s book.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal-
axy is probably the most significant
game to come from Infocom since
Deadline and Suspended, for one
simple reason: it was co-written by
Douglas Adams based on his owm
book. This is a first for Infocom: an
existing work of fiction translated
into an interactive adventure. Hitch-
hiker’s Guide is not an “in name
only” take-off— this game, as any
Adams fan will quickly discover, is
quite true to the character of the
novel. In fact, a fair amount of text
in the game has been lifted directly
from the book, particularly a brief
Monte Schulz is a freelance writer who lives in
Santa Barbara, California.
160 March 1985 Popular Computing
PO PULA R REVIE WS: SOFT WARE
scene dealing with two waning alien
factions and a certain slip of the
tongue that accidentally ignites in-
tergalactic war. Yet the rest of the
story is new enough that players
familiar with the novel will have as
much to discover as those who have
never read a word of the Hitch-
hiker's trilogy.
Douglas Adams was not exactly a
novice himself when it came to do-
ing this program. He had played sev-
eral of Infocom’s earlier adventures
and it w r as he who approached Info-
corn with the project. Having Steve
Meretsky (whose own Planetfall
owes much to Adams’s novel in
terms of style and humor) co-script
the game has worked out well, both
for Adams and Infocom, as the
humor thev share dovetails wonder-
4 /
fully in the text.
Hitchhiker’s Guide opens with you
assuming the role of Arthur Dent on
the “worst Thursday that ever hap-
pened.” Before the morning is over
you will have discovered that your
house is scheduled for demolition,
that your friend from Guildford is an
alien from another planet, and that
human history on earth is in its final
moments. And from there your ad-
venture begins. Hitchhiking w r ith
your friend, Ford Prefect, from a
Vogon Constructor Fleet to the
highly improbable starship Heart of
Gold leads the two of you halfway
across the galaxy in search of some-
thing very special. Zaphod Beeble-
brox, president of the Galaxy, is
here, as is Tricia MacMillan (Tril-
lian), Marvin the paranoid android,
Eddie the shipboard computer, and
a cast of, w r ell, others. In a sense,
then, the story is the same, but the
emphasis and plotting are new. And,
of course, instead of having Douglas
Adams lead Arthur Dent from
Earth to the Heart of Gold and along
to the mythical planet of Magrathea,
it is up to you to get yourself there
after unraveling a series of devious
and extremely subtle puzzles.
The Parser Understands
As is typical w r ith Infocom games,
the vocabulary understood by the
program is quite good and enhances
the interaction with the story. The
Infocom parser, that part of the pro-
gram responsible for accepting and
interpreting commands typed by the
player, allows for normal sentences
and ideas to be communicated to the
game— an advantage always appre-
ciated by players new to this kind of
program.
Infocom rates Hitchhiker’s Guide
as a standard-level adventure, but I
suspect that novices to interactive
Fiction will have a tough time with
the game— not an unpleasant time,
just a tough one. As for those expert
adventurers out there who routine-
ly breeze through this kind of game
in 15 hours or less, a word of warn-
ing: just try escaping the dark lair
of the ravenous Bugblatter Beast of
Traal (so stupid it thinks that if you
can’t see it, it can’t see you!). Just try
sticking that mind-boggling Babel
Fish in your ear. Just try surviving
the recitation of Vogon poetry or
getting rid of that “thing your aunt
gave you that you don’t know what
it is.”
A couple of puzzles in this game
are as difficult as those in any adven-
At a Glance
Name: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy
Type
Interactive fiction
Manufacturer
Infocom Inc.
55 Wheeler St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-1031
Price
$49.95; $59.95 for CP/M and NEC
Advanced Personal Computer versions
Format
5’/«- and 8-inch disks
Computer
For most home computers, including any
CP/M-based system with 8-inch disk drive;
requires 32K bytes of RAM and one disk
drive
Documentation
Game manual, assorted paraphernalia;
bring your own towel
Audience
Fans of Douglas Adams, science fiction,
adventure games, good-natured humor
ture game, and I suspect that Info-
com will do a brisk trade in Invisi-
Clues hint booklets (available for
$7.95) on this one. But w'ho knows?
Just because I groveled my way
through Hitchhiker’s Guide begging
for hints and a decent cup of tea at
every turn doesn’t mean everyone
will. The toughest thing about get-
ting through the game is picking up
on the subtleties. Everything has to
be read with great care. Don’t let
yapping dogs lie. Leave no stone un-
turned. Study your “guide” with dil-
igence because there is no meaning-
less fluff in this game.
Travel Is Difficult
The structure of Hitchhiker’s is
pretty interesting as well. Mapping,
for example, usually mandatory in
adventures, plays little or no part
here at all. Instead of containing a
single geography, the 30 or so rooms
in Hitchhiker’s are separated into
eight scenarios, which are tied more
or less together by the game’s story-
line.
Discovering the means to travel
throughout the geography of this
crazy “universe” is one of the most
basic puzzles in the game. Another
is figuring out what you are sup-
posed to be doing in the first place.
Just remember to consult your
Hitchhiker’s “guide” for answers to
these and other pressing questions.
And whatever happens, don’t panic.
Enjoy the experience no matter how
irritating it might become. For the
most part, every problem has a rea-
sonably sensible solution— not nec-
essarily logical, but somehow within
the context of the game, sensible.
Those players who most quickly
grasp Adams’s sense of humor will
do well in Hitchhiker’s, while those
who do not will probably moan about
the author’s deviant mind.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal-
axy will certainly attract a large new
audience to Infocom’s interactive fic-
tion, while at the same time reinforc-
ing among its established customers
that same feeling of satisfaction with
a product reasonably priced and
wonderfully well written. What
more could anyone want? □
182 March 1985 Popular Computing
Infocom playmates: penetrating the computer
Play on words
Infocom s adventure games
by Charles Bloche
-tt.-rr — ,■
S itting down to play one of
Infocom's "interactive fic-
tion" adventure games is a
little like sitting down with a new
bottle of Scotch. Eight hours later
your eyes will be bleary, your
limbs w ill hurl, and you'll have to
strain to remember how to nego-
tiate once again with the three-
dimensional w orld. These games
do strange things to your per-
ception When you turn off your
computer and go out into the
street, it's difficult to remember
that you're no longer traversing
an imaginary world.
This kind of obsession, which
can afflict you even if you've
never touched a computer before,
is the key to the astounding
-uccess ot the Cambridge-based
firm Infocom and its long line
of interactive-fiction software.
Beginning with Zork, its first
fantasy 'role-playing game, intro-
duced in 1970 and moving on
to the genres of adventure,
rr.*stery, and science nction, In-
fa orr. has been behind the most
consistently popular and profil
jolt computer games in the
business founded in Iy79 by a
clique of whizzes from MIT's
computer iabs the company
made S10 million in revenues last
cear Its consistent growth (re-
■ er.ues were $6 million in 1983)
has bucked all the downward
industry trends. This is particular-
ly amazing because the product
makes no attempt to hook you
with graphics, color, or any of the
other pyrotechnics that burst on-
to the scene, and then fizzled,
with the video-games craze. In-
stead, these games tap into a
more primal human fantasy: you
begin to believe the machine
really can think.
Infocom's 15 software titles are
divided into four levels of dif-
ficulty: introductory, standard,
advanced, and expert. All the
games work in pretty much the
same way Sitting at your key-
board, you are given a role and
thrown into a situation — de-
scribed by text on the screen —
and from there you make your
way through the plot twists by
typing English commands. For
example, Wishbringer, Infocom's
latest release, drops you (in the
role of a postman) into a quaint
seaside village, which you soon
discover is loaded with trolls and
vultures, controlled by the "Evil
One." You must travel through
the village, combatting her emis-
sanes In the game Suspect,
which was released last year, you
play a reporter who is sent to a
high-society Halloween costume
balk where the hostess is
murdered; your task is to find the
killer before the’crime is blamed
on you.
In interactive fiction, com-
municating with the machine is
half the challenge. The computer
operator need not be a program-
mer: using what computer pro-
grammers call natural-language
processing, the computer accepts
English input and responds in
kind. The first interactive game,
the Colossal Cave, which was
designed at MIT and lurked for
years only in the memories of
university mainframes, was lim-
ited to two-word commands and
had a relatively small vocabulary
You could give the computer
instructions like "go north" or
"open grate" or "climb tree."
After each command, the pro-
gram would respond with the
consequences of your actions. It
would provide a description of
the chamber you were in and tell
you, foi example, "The grale is
locked," or "There is an emerald
egg here"; the ohjeit of the game
was to traverse a computerized
obstacle course. Infocom games
(which were inspired by the
Colossal Cave) are more com-
plex: you may type in "Order a
drink from the bartender" or
"Plug the long wire into the
receptacle." But the idea is the
same Infocom games are com-
puter versions of interactive nov-
els, in which you are given a
choice of which page to tum to
next and can thus control the
outcome.
These games point to the un-
tapped possibilities of computer
software. But to understand the
promise they represent, you must
first consider their limitations.
When you slip into your micro
the disk for Wishbringer, you will
not, as the company promises,
"experience something akin to
waking up inside a story " The
brochures say that you will be
able to explore "an exciting
world," meet characters with
"extraordinarily developed per-
sonalities," and "actually shape
the story's course of events
through your choice of actions."
But the grandiose promise of the
term "interactive fiction" is mis-
leading; there are limits.
Computer programming is se-
quential: its result is always a
single path through which the
programmer leads you. The sim-
plest example of this is word
processing. The programmer ar-
ranges his code so you at the
keyboard will always have two
choices, a fork in the road. You
can press a character key, which
the program just eats, or a
command key, which the pro-
gram interprets and obeys; then
you are back at the fork again.
More complex programs may
lead you through a senes of
menus: you choose the function
or input the number, and the
computer slides you to the next
step.
Play Wishbringer, and you're
doing the same thing. The "plot"
is a sequence of logical puzzles
for you to solve. At one point you
times and you'll get the same re-
sponse four times — that hardly
simulates real life. This is be-
cause the designer of the pro-
gram must incorporate a person's
possible responses and com-
mands, translating potential Eng-
lish messages into strings of com-
puter codes. This code is struc-
tured in an "if . . . then" format —
telling the computer, "U you hear
this, then do that." Thus the com-
puter can "respond" only to com-
mands the programmer has anti-
cipated. Your task is to gueas
what answers the programmer
used. Ask a character about
something he isn't programmed
to recognize, and the computer
A frame from Wishbringer: who done it?
have to get down a road that is
blocked by a ferocious dog. If you
go in the opposite direction, to
the graveyard, then jump into an
open grave and take a bone, you
can then throw the bone to the
dog and skirt by, undigested, to
the next puzzle. You can tell the
computer to stand on its head,
jump up and down, or yell, "Play
dead!", but you're not getting
down that road until the dog has
its bone. Such adventure games
are really a series of logical brain-
teasers you must decipher.
Perhaps the company's most
ambitious interactive story is The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
adapted from the novels and
radio and TV shows of Douglas
Adams, who collaborated with
Infocom writer/programmer
Steve Meretzky to develop the
game. The program, witty, addic-
tive, and challenging, is in fact no
more interactive than a Skinner
box. In the game you can address
the other characters, but of course
there are no real conversations,
only predefined responses you
elicit. Do the same thing four
will say that he "isn't interested"
or "ignores you." You progress
through the story by choosing
among limited options.
Infocom games work because
they are complex enough to be
convincing, if one takes a sport-
ing leap of faith. The more
choices you have built into a
game, the more complex the
path, and the closer an approx-
imation of reality the game be-
comes. This is the simple idea
behind artificial intelligence:
build enough different options
and consequences (i.e., responses
to anticipated answers) into the
program, and a computer can
simulate abstract understanding.
The more radical A1
philosophers claim our brains
operate in the same way as a
well-programmed computer. De-
compressing on a street comer
after a few hours of Hitchhiker's,
you're tempted to believe them
— it is no mean effort to pop out
of the linear, cause-and-effect
way of thinking the game in-
duces. Hitchhiker's is fun be-
cause its array of options is so
vast, and the program so com-
plex, that you can expenence a
completely different "plot" each
time you play. The basis of
adventure games, then, like the
basis of computer programming
in general, is just the map of
choices a user can make You
enter a logical environment of
choices, branches, and loops.
Maybe the most extraordinary
thing about computing is how
readily it can model an environ-
ment in these terms. The kind of
reasoning programmers use is
"architectural " Part of a program
is the path, always sequential.
Another key part is the 4ata'
structure, or the arrangement of
information you must navigate
Programmers speak of graphs
and trees these are mathemati-
cally regular kinds of arrange-
ments. Any completed program
is an organization of logical
space. That s ethereal space —
kilobytes of it — unexplored
before the computer came along
to keep track of it for us Hackers
and adventure placer- gel lost in
that -pace: programmers -eek to
harness it
Adventure games at the level
of Infocom s hint at the future of
computing There are two kinds
of technological frontiers in com-
puting. hardware and software
Progress in hardware has of late
occupied everyone s minds, but
as we reach the limits of what
you can fit on a microchip,
progress in software, managing
the space the hardware has
staked out, has been relatively
neglected. For instance, word
processing is fine — a more
versatile typewriter; the database
is nice — a faster rolodex The
"desktop" analogy of the Macin-
tosh helps neophytes understand
how to work the machine. But
adventure games show us that a
computer doesn't just do the
things you already do, only faster.
These toys use the real strength
of the computer — its facility in
organizing memory — rather
than merely mimic the primitive,
3-D objects on our desks. We
won t make full use of the power
of computers until they literally
become our desktops: multi-
dimensional files and organizers
physically impossible outside the
world of the microchip.
It's no surprise that Infocom,
with some expenence in settling
that world, is working on its own
line of business software. There's
a field that's begging for adven-
ture. O
PANAK
STRIKES !
Reviews of the latest
software
bv Steve Panak
T i i i > month, as I emerge from my sub-
terranean lair. 1 am blinded by the light.
Not trom the sun. although that would
be pleasant since it's always dark here,
but from the glow of good games. I get
such junk at times that I'm sure I'll go
mad But not this month — not a dud in
the bunch.
So. as the last ghastly glow grows dim
on my phosphor tube. 1 can barely re-
member that I am still trapped here,
with no escape except that in my own
twsted mind. Yet it’s with peaceful res-
ignation that 1 write this to you from
beyond — a feeling that, at least for a
time. 1 will be free. . .through these
games.
1 will, of course, only awaken and find
myself trapped again.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
by Douglas Adams
and Steven Meretzky
WISHBRINGER
by Brian Moriarty
INFOCOM
125 Cambridge Park Drive
Cambridge, MA 02140
48K Disk $34.95 each
See what I mean? This month, not one
but two games from the only company
that can really turn me on The graph-
ics which Infocom's
prose sends scorching
into my mind make all
my arcade action games
obsolete. So. without fu
ther ado. let's get into the
first one. \
The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy is Infocom's four-
teenth work of interactive fiction
(and they said it wouldn't last).
However, it also marks a first for
Infocom. It's the first time they’ve used
a best-selling author's book as a basis for
one of their games, and they've even had
the author co-write the game itself
Douglas Adams is the man behind the
madness, and the four books which
comprise the Hitchhiker trilogv have
been best-sellers — both in the II S. A.
and in the author's native Fngland. They
have spawned, in addition to the Mabel
fish, a public radio series and a I’MS tel
evision mini-series (imported from Kn-
gland |. Humors cont in we to ( iron lute as
to the possibility of a motion picture
again reuniting Arthur Dent and his co-
horts.
The game itself lakes you into the loi
merited world of Arthui Dent, who on
one sunny morning, got up on the wrong
side of his bed to find his clothes, his
house and his planet utterly destroyed
by bureaucrats bent on progress. To cap
it all off. he discovers that his friend.
Ford Prefect, is not from Guildford
after all. but from a small planet
somewhere near Betelgeu.se. As in
the series, t he* two are joined by
Zaphod Beeblebrox. the universe's
cleverest two-headed man. and by
Marvin, the paranoid android, who of-
ten has a pain down all the diodes in his
left side.
The four band together and are joined
by other memorable characters, as they
move in and out of improbable situa-
tions as easily as most of us get out of
our old socks. And. all the lime, they
slyly poke fun at every science fiction
gadget and concept ever created.
The characters come to life as the sto-
ry unravels before vour awaiting eyes.
One problem, however, is inherent. The
characters in the trilogv are extremely
complex — more than a computer game
can handle, even one from Infocom
So. in ordei to undeist.md mam of the
ANALOG COMPUTING
NOVEMBF R 19Bf» / PAGE 23
PANAK STRIKES! continued
glasses (which become opaque when
danger approaches, so you won't be um
necessarily alarmed) and a "Don’t Pan-
ic" button. 1 was slightly disappointed
that the glasses were only cardboard. 1
was unable to wear them out on the
town, but costs must be kept down. At
least the button could be worn — and
was!
VVishbringer's manual isn't quite as
impressive. It contains the local history
of Festeron. as it concerns the Magick
Dream-Stone. This, of course, added
something to the story, but. while im-
aginative. wasn't as much fun to read.
It lacked the twisted Infocoin humor I've
grown to love.
Other YVishbringer paraphernalia in-
clude postal maps of the town, the let-
ter you must deliver and the stone itself,
which 1 found fascinating. It glows in
the dark, but not that age-old glowing
green I've grown accustomed to since
childhood. It glowed purple. This was
unsettling enough to make me recharge
it and watch it glow a number of times.
I suggest setting it nearby and playing
Wishbringer in its eerie radiation.
So. while both these games are iden-
ticallv superb, 1 have to give the slight
edge to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy. Its sarcastic blend of humor and
torment often sent me screaming from
the room, with clumps of hair between
my fingers.
SPACE SHUTTLE
by Steve Kitchen
ACTIVISION
Drawer No. 7287
Mountain View, CA 94039
16K Cartridge $29.95
After testing and reviewing scores of
games. I’ve often caught myself falling
into the trap of judging a game just by
the company which puts it out. I feel
that some companies put out good qual-
ity. and others, well.
Activision has been one company that
I've come to expect very little from —
that is. until I boarded their Space Shut-
tle. Now excuse me, while l extract a foot
from my mouth.
Space Shuttle is a welcome surprise,
and an unexpected pleasure greeted me
when I opened tht! carton. This wasnt
the simple video game I'd expected, but
a complete program, essentially a junior
miter space version of Flight Simulator
In Space Shuttle, you are at the con-
trols of the shuttle Discovery on a mis-
sion to rendezvous ami dock with an
PAGF 24 / NOVEMBER 1985
ANALOG COMPUTING
events, you have to have read the hooks.
How else could you know what truly
repulsive creatures the Vogons are? But.
once you've read the books, you've also
learned solutions to some of the puzzles.
boxes, in particular, take on a life ol their
own ns they skip and jump about, de-
manding to he fed.
If vou evade the hoot patrol and have
the Wishbringer stone, you're in rum-
Not all the puzzles, though, and there
are more than enough riddles to keep the
game gnawing at you for at least a cou-
ple of weeks. Some of the puzzles are
extremely humorous (as well as diffi-
cult). as they taunt you after each incor-
rect solution attempt. And. for those of
you who've played the game. I want you
to know the Babel fish is still torment-
ing me.
Infocom followed Hitchhiker (as if
that was possible, but then, achieving
the impossible is an Infocom exclusive)
with Wishbringer. a fantasy game in
their introductory (formerly “junior'’)
level .
In this game, you’re a postal clerk w r ho
is ordered one day. none too politely, to
deliver a mysterious letter to the town’s
Magick Shoppe But this letter turns out
to be a ransom note for the proprietor’s
kidnapped cat.
Upon vour return from delivering the
letter, vou discover that the tow'n has
changed — for the worse. It’s no longer the
friendly city of your youth, but has mu-
tated into a malignant metropolis, whose
livid life-forms have no good plans for
your future.
Wishbringer also fakes you through
u -labyrinth of tw ists and turns that wind
through other familiar Infocom locales
Suddenly, you find yourself out' ide a
white wood house (Zork). or on n sul-
try pier (Cutthroats) Hut each ol these
plat es has also t hanged strangely Mail
mand of its power. It allows you to cast
seven spells. >ome of which can only be
used once. It s not easy: all the spells re-
quire additional items, such as grue's
milk. And. if you've ever tried to get
milk from a grue. you know how pain-
ful that can be Only the w ise warrior
will find all the items, then wait and use
the spells at the correct time, finally
completing the game.
The puzzles are generally easy, espe-
cially if you've challenged Intocom be-
fore. However, the prose is entertaining,
and the game is fun and full of surprises,
more than making up for the quick com-
pletion time.
Both programs function smoothly. In-
focom has left little room for improve-
ment. although Wishbringer introduces
a new cursor. As usual, time is always
spent loading data from the disk, but
this is necessary. Sometimes it even en-
hances the game, providing a tension-
building delav before you find out that
you've inadvertently killed yourself.
The Infocom production st.iff has out-
done itself again in tin* packaging of
these two games. Both utilize their new
packaging design, which resembles a
hook, with a front cover that opens to
display the manual
The disk and other game goodies are
secured in a t ompaitinen! in the hat k.
Hitchhiker’s manual is espet talU good,
with humorous piose and draw mgs Al-
so int lulled an* the peiil sensitive sun-
Entertainment Software
The
Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the
Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Lost in Space
The Hitchhiker 's Guide to the Galaxy is
the latest in a long string of adventure
games (also called interactive fiction) that
places the user in a perilous situation
from which only wits and luck can lead
to escape, fame, and fortune. Based on
the novel with the same name, the pro-
gram allows the user to become Arthur
Dent, a docile resident of the town of
Cottington. Arthur’s cottage is to be de-
stroyed to make room for a highway.
At the same time, the Earth is about to
be clobbered by the evil Vogon fleet to
make way for a space turnpike. As Arthur,
the user will face puzzling situations and
dangerous creatures such as the dreaded
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. The
ultimate goal of the program is to solve
all the puzzles and reach the end of the
game and have fun doing it.
The package comes with a few essential
items besides software. These include a
small ball of “fluff’, a destruct order for
Arthur’s cottage, peril-sensitive sunglasses,
a “Don’t Panic!” button, and a micro-
scopic space fleet (don’t ask— you’ll have
to buy the package).
Many of the situations in the game left
us baffled and forced us to turn to a hint
book, called InvisiClues, for help. The
booklet is set up to give away as little in-
formation as possible. To get a hint for a
particular problem, such as finding out if
the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is impor-
tant, the user goes to that section of the
hint booklet. All of the hints are invisible
and can only be seen after running a yel-
low marker over them. According to the
publisher, the hints will fade again after
six months and be gone for good.
Adventure game playing is not for
everyone. Still, no other media is able to
put the user in the middle of the action,
movies included. If you're able to visual-
ize situations as described in books and
have yearned to slice monsters and fire
phasers yourself, then give interactive fic-
tion a try.
As with other programs from Infocom,
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy can
be likened to a superb radio drama. It
uses powerful words but no graphics.
Product: The Hitchhiker s Guide to the
Galaxy
Price: $39 95
Company: Infocom. Inc., 125 Cam-
bridgePark Dr., Cambridge, Mass. 02140,
617-492-6000
Requirements: Apple 11, II + , 11c, He,
disk drive
Proving
Grounds of the
Mad Overlord
and Wiziprint
Lost in a Maze
One of the most absorbing computer
games we’ve played is Proving Grounds
of the Mad Overlord. This adventure, the
first in a series of three from the vendor,
is set in a castle complete with magical
items, strange beings, monsters, and a
maze, to name a few. The main object of
the game is to get out of the maze.
Before starting the adventure you have
to create some characters as “alter egos”
in the fantasy. These characters are con-
trolled by telling the computer how they
should respond to various situations.
Characters are created by giving them
skills, abilities, and possessions chosen
from a provided list of attributes. You are
allowed to use only six characters at a
time, although we found that you can
store up to 20 characters on a disk. All in-
formation pertaining to characters is saved
on the scenario disk.
Once we created and equipped our six
characters we were ready for the maze.
The computer screen displays the maze in
three dimensions in its left-hand corner.
The bottom of the screen lists the names
of the adventure team and also provides
some information about each character,
such as the number of blows each is able
to withstand. The middle section of the
screen is for messages and questions
that appear when your characters
\fyflc. X P-eYi tW
24 Fall 1985
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TECH
BY MARTIN PORTER
E AR STYLING ♦ Thanks to por-
table stereos, headphones
have become the new Ameri-
can headdress. But high tech in elec-
tronics often turns out. in design, to
be low tack.
Enter Yamaha, which followed
the fashion industry s lead last \ear
with a pair of designer headphones
that elegantly complement any de-
signer jeans. They re the N HL-
003/006 (about S50/S40 respective-
ly )__ C ourtesy of the famed Porsche
Design Group of West Germany.
These melody muffs are every bit as
sporty as their maker’s famed road-
ster. Moreover, they roll into a com-
pact and cushioned ball for travel-
ing. and even rolled their way into
The Museum of Modem Art s De-
sign Collection last year.
Now comes Yamaha's latest
headphone design, from Itah and
designer Mario Bellini, who first in-
troduced style to stereo several years
back with a wedge-shaped cassette
machine. His new audio unit, the
YHD-1 (about $70), weighs only
5.9 ounces and uses a modified elec-
headphones told flat even in the back
pocket of your jeans.
Your move. Calvin.
agAr
T HE GALAXY GAZETTE ♦ Ev-
eryone's heard of Douglas
Adams, right? He wrote The
Hitchhiker' s Guide to the Galaxy.
and his cosmic literary adventure has
sold nearly 3 million copies world-
wide. Well, now this globe-trotting
Londoner is talking up his computer
software translation of Hitchhiker
(about $40), the first published nov-
el put on floppy disk as “interactive
fiction."'
The program's developer, a com-
pany from Cambridge. Massachu-
setts. called Infocom. has redetined
computer entertainment with a genre
of games that you read instead of
bleep. Unlike conventional novels,
Infocom's variety lets the reader
pave his own path through the prose,
creating a unique tale every time.
"1 feel like interactive fiction is
what it must have been like in the
movies in 1905, Adams says.
proved hardware and software to
make use of its true potential."
In Hitchhiker, gamesters become
the protagonist. Arthur Dent, whose
house is about to be bulldozed to
make way for a galactic bypass —
just as the world is about to be de-
stroyed. The trick: Maneuver past
these simultaneous disasters and
then trip through the galaxy by typ-
ing moves into the computer in plain
English.
Hitchhiker's Guide is part of the
so-called incomplete works of Info-
com which began with Zork Trilogy,
a text adventure in the center of the
earth, which has topped the software
best-seller lists for the last two years.
“There aren't many limitations to
the computer format. ' Adams says.
“Except, you can’t take it to the
bath.'"
M AC M AGIC ♦ When the wun-
derkinder of Cupertino, Cal-
ifornia — otherwise known
as Apple Computer — introduced the
Macintosh microcomputer last year,
there w as a range of reactions. Hack-
ers greeted the machine as the Holy
Grail, while white-collar office man-
agers grumbled about their alle-
giance to the hallowed initials IBM .
In fact, the Macintosh is making a
dent in the nine-to-five world —
though not in the traditional word-
processing, data-base and spread-
sheet world that Steven Jobs and
company first envisioned. The new
Macintosh Office connects a full-
boat 512K Macintosh with a new-
high-resolution laser printer that si-
lently spews text of almost typeset
quality and art-department graphics
out of its tray in seconds.
The LaserWriter (about $7,000)
functions much as an office copier
that can put on paper what s con-
tained in the computer’s brain. How-
ever, the true magic here is the print-
er itself, which boasts enough type
styles to open a type shop. Macin-
tosh programs like ReadySetGo
(about $125) provide the goods to
prepare even a newspaper, and the
much-ballyhooed Jazz integrated
package from Lotus Development
(about $595) can tum the most bor-
ing spread sheet and graph display
into a demo worthy of Disney.
Not bad (continued on page 228)
"Not a serious medium, not some-
thing we should take too seriously
yet, but something with tremendous
Melody muffs
go trendy...
Making a dent
in bytes...
Jobs (Steve) in
Disneyland...
Dishing the
heavens...
King of the Ks
CiQ S \ PT I M B i R \ Q * *
other beings. Talk with them to ob-
tain jobs (use your special skills for
pay), barter for trade goods, ask
them to join your band, or fight
them to build up your combat expe-
rience and weapon skills.
If the planet you're on isn't to your
liking, buy a spacecraft (very expen-
sive) or fly as a passenger to another
world. If you dare (and if your char-
acters are advanced enough), try
taking a job for one of the four inter-
stellar government agencies. They'll
send you on dangerous missions
where you can quickly rise to higher
levels of expertise.
The game is complex, takes
months to play, and offers the best
time I've had with a computer.
What's more, once you begin to tire
of the adventures supplied in the
program, there’s a first-rate con-
struction set, which allows you to
build your own worlds for further
adventures. This game is a necessity
for every dedicated adventurer, and
an excellent introduction for begin-
ners who haven’t tried their hand at
role-playing games.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy
hardware requirements: Reviewed
on Apple II series. Also for Macin-
tosh. Atari. C 64. IBM PC/PC/r,
TI-99/4A.
MANUFACTURER: InfoCOm
PRICE: S39( Apple, IBM. TI ): $34
(Atari. C 64)
CRITIC S SUGGESTED AGE: 14 +
First came Douglas Adams' brilliant,
satirical, science-fiction radio pro-
gram, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy. Then came a best-selling
book, more books, a TV series, and a
soon-to-be -released movie. Now.
there's a computer game based on
the original story.
Who else but lnfoeom designer
Steve Meretzky (author of the comie
science adventure Planetfall ) could
create this difficult but rewarding
HOW TO PUT A PLATYPUS
UNDER YOUR SPELL
^ 'S. # V i n ),1V. l 4- -/
i* y _ I v . ^ -
I
(
No one loves getting wet more
than a duck-billed platypus.
(That’s pronounced 'plat-i-pus.)
So if you want to make a platy-
pus happy in \VISHBRINGER,“
lnfoeom’ s amazing interactive
magic adventure . just type in a magic
spell: PICK UP THE MAGIC ROCK
AND THE UMBRELLA. OPEN
THE UMBRELLA, THEN WISH
FOR RAIN.
You’ll be glad to have a happy
platypus on your side.
WISHBRINGER’s packed with
danger. You’ll face sorcerers,
kidnappers , even a stone that \
grants its owner’s every
wish. In fact, there’s so much
action, your adventure can last
for w 7 eeks or even months . 1
Get the closest thing on
a disk to real magic. Get )
WISHBRINGER? It’s a great
adventure - and a great w 7 ay to )
learn how 7 to spell platypuses. 1
iriFOCOIIY
•Its compatible with almost every popular home computer.
W1SHBRINGER is a trademark of lnfoeom, Inc.
A FAMILY REUNION!
Back issues of Family
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JUNE 1985 79
Upcoming
Features In
FAMILY
COMPUTING
Make the Most
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With Fitness, Music,
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WHAT'S IN STORE
SOFTWARE REVIEWS
text adventure? As the only surviv-
ing earthling, you wander through
the galaxy in search of truth and the
meaning of life (or whatever passes
for it amidst the stars). By discover-
ing how to teleport from a planet to
a starship, or obtain a “Babel fish"
from a vending machine (allow at
least two hours for that), you 11 slow-
ly grow to be a bona fide hitchhiker,
worthy of survival in the galaxy.
This is a funny game. But, like all
Infocom adventures, it often is frus-
trating. There are many steps to fol-
low and so many puzzles to solve
that you should count on at least
100 hours of game time to finish it.
Still, if you're willing to tough it out,
this is one of the best examples of
interactive fiction around. (See in-
terview with Adams in this issue.)
The Ancient Art off War
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: IBM
PC/PC/r. Planned for Apple II series,
Macintosh.
manufacturer: Broderbund
PRICE: $44
CRITIC'S SUGGESTED AGE: 12 +
Broderbund shook the gaming tree
with Operation Whirlwind last year,
a real-time simulation of World War
II combat. Now it’s come up with an-
other approach to military simula-
tion. The Ancient Art of War is a
challenging strategic/tactical game,
good for a variety of skills and ages.
By using built-in scenarios and by
fighting against historical opponents
(Napoleon. Genghis Khan, Alexan-
der. Caesar, etc.) players can gener-
ate hundreds of different games, and
alter existing confrontations. Using
the construction mode, they can
build maps, armies, and campaigns
from scratch.
Perhaps the game's best feature is
the superb use of animated graphics
to represent combat. Characters
Software only you could love
You think there’s a big market for a program to keep your records EXACTLY the way you’d like them — only
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bets YOUR league loves? Don’t look for it in a store.
Design them all yourself. Go ahead. Not ‘'pro-
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Entertainment Software — From Rescue Raiders
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tely
put
■Jed
in-
and
ac-
:ific
j to
jn-
idly
tri
and
d to
nes
iere
the
nen
d a
lext
and
an
you
real
bot
has
aers
e, a
hat
her
hat
powers the whole contraption. How a
robot moves and what it does depends on
how all these parts are connected. Since
controlling the good robots is the only way
to escape Robotropolis, you'll need to
know how to wire them — which means
figuring out how to make electricity flow
through the right circuits. For instance, if
you want a robot to move up and signal
when its right side hits a wall, you wire the
output of its right bumper to the input of
the upward thruster and also to the input
of the antenna. You’ll need to use an
electricity-splitting node to send energy in
two directions at once. And you do your
own soldering and other manual labor.
This level of complexity is double-
edged: if you don’t much like tackling
logical and mechanical puzzles, you won’t
care much for Robot Odyssey I. And if you
like to start playing a game right away,
without bothering with the directions, pre-
pare to be totally mystified. But take the
time to really get into this program — and
out of Robotropolis — and you’ll find it will
more than repay your efforts.
(Dan Goldberg)
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
Designed by Steve Meretzky
and Douglas Adams
Infocom, 1984/ Most systems /Disk/$49.95
Well, you don’t have to make a map.
Anyone who’s ever run across "The
Hitchhiker’s Guide” in any of its previous
incarnations will know pretty much what
expect from this program: pure lunacy. In
fact, there are only two problems with The
Guide: it’s not logical and it doesn’t make
sense. And if you think that's redundant,
you obviously haven't played this one yet.
As a text adventure, The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy starts out almost ex-
actly like all the other versions: Arthur
Dent, well-intentioned but ineffectual
nebbish, rises one sunny morning to find
that a bevy of bulldozers is preparing to
raze his home. Obviously, one's first
thought will be to get out of said home
quickly — but this is not as easy as it
sounds. In fact, one of the things this pro-
gram accomplishes brilliantly is actually
turning the player into Arthur Dent. You
may start out your own intelligent, adroit
self, but before long you'll be bumbling
along in a haphazard, Arthur Dentish fash-
ion.
The broad outline of the story will also
be familiar. Arthur Dent is fortuitously res-
cued from a doomed Earth by his pal Ford
Prefect, a native of another galaxy
altogether, by way of a Sub-Etha Signalling
Device, or ’Thumb’. Eventually they end
up on the Heart of Gold, an impossible ship
powered by the Improbability Drive, which
has been hijacked by Zaphod Beeblebrox,
the two-headed (but otherwise human)
President of the Galaxy. So far, simple,
right? Just like the book? Just about here
the similarity ends.
There will be the odd familiar character
throughout the game, like Marvin, the
chronically depressed robot, and Eddie, the
over-protective computer. However, there
will also be insane situations for which no
amount of reading, listening or viewing
will have prepared the player. Just how
would you go about convincing a
supercilious door that you’re intelligent —
just to get it to open? And does it matter?
What about a nice cup of tea? You don't
seem to have been yourself lately.
Be prepared for one thing: unlike the
other Infocom games, this one lies to you
— just as a joke between friends, of
course. And like many friendly jokes, it
wears thin with repetition. There is at least
one instance where the gamer has to use
the "look" command more than once be-
for the program will admit there's any-
thing to see. Always consult the Guide
about everything possible — check the
footnotes, too. They're rarely helpful, but
most of them are funny. And be prepared
to spend a lot of time in the dark — physi-
cally as well as metaphorically. In fact, so
much time is spent in the dark that one
begins to feel like the infamous bowl of
petunias: "Oh, no, not again."
The only drawback to Hitchhikers —
and admittedly this is picky — is at the
beginning. If you're familiar with the
book, it may seem that there is too much
obligatory wait time. There may seem to
be a few too many repetitious situations in
the game, too, but this is actually con-
sistent with the off-the-wall logic involved.
Trying to unravel the puzzles and para-
doxes in this program may reduce the
gamer’s brain to the level of the Bugblatter
Beast (consult Guide for details), but The
Hitchhiker's Guide is well worth the effort
required to successfully complete the
adventure. It can also be absolutely
maddening. When this happens, go
ahead, panic; after all, worse things hap-
pen at sea.
(Louise Kohl)
SHADOWKEEP
Designed by Ultrasoft
Telarium, 1984/ Apple ll/Disk/$39 95
Shadowkeep is part of Telarium’s
(formerly Trillium) new Famous Science
Fiction Authors Collection. The game is
based on a novel of the same name written
by Alan Dean Foster.
This is a large game on four disk sides,
comprising seven dungeon (well, actually
Electronic Games 45
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky (Infocom, on disk for
most home computers, around $35 to $40)
Those of you who have read and enjoyed Douglas Adams’s
novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will find it no help
whatsoever when it comes to solving the computer adventure
game based on the book. This, of course, is as it should be,
but is small comfort; for the game does not succeed as com-
pletely as one might have hoped.
You are Arthur Dent, the hapless hero. Your house is about
to be destroyed to make room for the British equivalent of an
interstate highway. As if this weren’t enough, you’re told by
your close friend Ford Prefect that he’s from outer space and
that the earth is about to be destroyed to make room for an
intergalactic highway. Miraculously, you and Ford are spared
to wander the universe and solve puzzles.
The game manages to capture the book’s off-the-wall hu-
mor. While this is sometimes fun, it is also the game’s biggest
flaw. There are too many places where you are just a reader
rather than a player. Long passages go by that require abso-
lutely no creative input; although you are prompted to type in
something at these points, what you type is usually immateri-
al, since you’re just marking time anyway. You must wait for
the destruction of your house and then of the earth; you must
wait in the dark between trips in space; and there’s no way to
speed things up.
In other games from Infocom’s fine line of all-text adven-
tures, you have almost complete control over where you go.
You make a map, explore the territory, and can retrace your
steps if you do something in the wrong order. Here, though,
you are tossed randomly from one scenario to another. Each
presents one or two problems to solve, and then you’re trans-
ported back to your spaceship— -where, unlike the settings in
most Infocom games, there’s very little exploring to do.
Mr. Adams is a very humorous writer, and he has tried to
cram every joke he can into the game. Too often the result is
that gameplay is sacrificed for a cheap laugh. At one point,
for example, you’re told that there is an exit to port. After try-
ing to exit port a number of times, out of frustration you try to
exit aft — and you succeed. The computer then tells you there
is no exit to port; it was just a joke. Ha ha.
The game does have its good points, however. From time
to time you are called on to do some creative thinking, which
is refreshing and welcome when it happens. The puzzles re-
quire cleverness and more than a little skill in the art of lateral
thinking. The Bugblatter Beast situation, for example, is
solved with a perfect blend of humor and total disregard for
the laws that govern the universe. At such high points in the
game, you know that beneath the flaws there beats an Info-
com heart. You just find yourself wishing it beat just a little
stronger. — Randi Hacker
Globbo (Steve Jackson Games, around $ 5 )
This science fiction board game could win awards for the fun-
niest rulebook and the most outlandish premise. On the plan-
et Ticketa-Koo, children are fiendish little “biters” that tend to
explode and regroup, multiplying in the process. Parents
therefore try to reduce their numbers by tossing them into a
playroom with “Globbo," an amoeba-like Playroom Assassi-
nation Device that battles several children at a time until one
side or the other is eliminated.
One player controls Globbo, whose body consists of one
head and a number of “blue zaps” and “red slaps,” all of
which can move pretty freely provided the right types of parts
end up next to each other. It can gradually regenerate lost
parts, and even grow a new head and split into more than
one creature. The other player controls the children, who be-
gin as biters, but explode, when attacked, to form “bits” and
“ yeasts.” As the various Globbo parts and children types move
around the strange “wraparound” board (pieces may move
off one side and reenter on the opposite side), they may at-
tack one another from various ranges and at differing
strengths. The combat system is very simple: For each attack
a die is thrown, and the attacked unit (which will be either one
of the children or a single section of Globbo) is eliminated if
the number shown on the die is less than or equal to the total
strength of the attacking units.
Optional rules allow each side to add all sorts of strange
special powers to complicate the play. Biters, for example,
may produce a sticky “gunk” to immobilize a section of
Globbo, while Globbo may use a laser beam to “scorch”
some biters before r— 7 ^
they can explode. \ ai m /
For all its absurdity,
Globbo is a very well
designed, highly en-
joyable game, requir-
ing interesting and
unusual strategies.
Though inexpensively
produced (the board is
paper and the pieces
have to be cut apart by
hand), this is a quality
game that is well worth
its bargain price.
— R. W. S.
The Oxford Companion to Chess
by David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld (Oxford University
Press, 1984, 407 pages hardcover, $29.95)
Packed with an extraordinary amount of information for a vol-
ume its size, this is a reference book that can be picked up,
opened to an article chosen at random, and read for sheer
entertainment. Nearly 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries
cover all aspects of the game of chess, from its history and its
players to the world of chess problems. Many offbeat sub-
jects are included, such as human-controlled chess-playing
automatons,” the history of coffee-house chess, and repre-
sentations of chess in paintings, films, and postage stamps.
Biographies of hundreds of top players, past and present,
include a sample game from each one’s chess career. Well
over 100 problems and other studies are also here, each se-
lected to illustrate either the work of an important composer
or a particular theme. There are rules for a number of histori-
cal, regional, and other chess variants. The section on
shogi — the most important variant — is far too brief, but the
openings and strategy of shatranj (medieval chess) are cov-
ered thoroughly. And of especially good reference value is an
appendix that charts over 700 named openings, making it
easy for players to find out the name of an opening variation if
they know its moves, or its moves if they know its name.
As its title suggests, this book should indeed be a welcome
companion to anyone with an interest in chess, and it can be
enjoyed by master and novice alike. — R. W. S.
GAMES APRIL 1985 49
STAN FELIERMAN
Photography: Torsheya Studio
Game Ratings
Boffo
Cut above
Mundane
^ Futile
\/\/ ith this column.
V V the Warden
comes out from behind
his mosquito netting.
Disguised as a mild-
mannered civil servant,
Brian J. Murphy has
managed the Game Re-
serve for the past ten epi-
sodes. Brian is a regular
contributor to all major
computer magazines, a
nationally syndicated
columnist, and author of
the gaming book Sorcer-
ers & Soldiers.
Each month Brian will
review, in his own inimit-
able style, six to eight of
the most recent Apple
games to hit the market.
Look here for inCider’s
scoop on the latest in
computer fun.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy
Infocom
55 Wheeler Street
Cambridge, MA02138
$39.95
Any Apple II, 48K
I s Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy the best
game ever produced by In-
focom? While not as chal-
lenging or difficult as some
of their offerings, it is their
most entertaining, funny.
and devious. And that is
no small achievement .
Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy is based on a
four-book ‘‘trilogy’’ by for-
mer Monty Python gag-
writer Douglas Adams. Be-
sides being the funniest
Englishman to put pen to
paper since P.G. Wode-
house, he is an astute stu-
dent of science fiction. His
books, aside from being
excessively hilarious (and
astoundingly remunera-
tive) are satires of the
whole science-fiction
genre.
Adams, with Steve Mer-
etzky of Infocom, set out to
write an adventure game
based on the books. They
wound up writing an ad-
venture game that is itself
a satire on adventure
games. It’s also a satire on
Adams’ books, people that
play games, the universe,
and anything else you can
think of.
I have to warn you that
Hitchhiker is not like other
Infocom adventures. Sure,
it’s an all-text game. Sure,
the command syntax is so-
phisticated. The cache of
what one gaming friend of
mine likes to call “neat
stuff’ that comes with the
game is even better than
usual. And yes, it’s tricky,
difficult, challenging, en-
tertaining, and madden-
ingly hard to solve. But
there’s a twist.
You can’t take Hitch-
hiker at face value. There
is something odd about it.
You can't always believe
what it tells you. To be
blunt, this game tells lies.
What do I mean by that?
When another Infocom
game, like one of the
Zorks, tells you that there
are exits to the north and
west, and that there is a
large, angry -looking ani-
mal in the room with you,
you believe it, right? In
Hitchhiker’s Guide, there
may in fact be only one
exit and no animal at all,
no matter what the screen
says. And there is always
the possibility of no warn-
ing when you’re in terrible
danger.
The result of this duplic-
ity is unbridled hilarity.
Few computer games can
make me laugh out loud,
but this one does. Take
my advice and become
Arthur Dent, an inade-
quately-dressed Earth-
man, and follow Ford
Prefect (from Betelgeuse, a
giant red star in the con-
stellation Orion) into one
improbable fix after an-
other.
Together, Arthur and
Ford escape the destruc-
tion of the Earth by Vo-
gons, ride in the first
by Brian J. Murphy
May 1985 inCider 113
FAMILY COMPUTING
NEW YORK, N.Y.
M. 200,000
JUN 1985
Ae ^Hitchhiker's Guide to the
hardware requirements: Reviewed
°" h \P* " S , eries A* 50 for Macin-
T° 99/M an ' 64 ’ ' BM PC/PC A-
manufacturer: Infocom
price: $39 (Apple, IBM, TI); $34
(Atari, C 64)
CRITIC’S SUGGESTED AGE: 14 +
Firet came Douglas Adams' brilliant
satirical sc le nce . fi c t ion radjo '
Gal^xu Th HUCMlker ' S Gulde ‘° ‘he
Th came a best-selling
s“^tITh re b ,°° kS ' a TV series ' a 9d a
soon-to-be-released movie. Now
the r n^ a CO , mpUter game based on
ine original story.
C,^ h0 „ else but Infocom designer
Steve Meretzky (author of the comic
create Ce thit V d n rfi Ure , Planet J al “ could
- ate this difficult but rewarding
SOFTWARE REVIE1
text adventure? As the only surviv-
ing earthling, you wander through
the galaxy in search of truth and the
meaning of life (or whatever passes
for it amidst the stars). By discover-
ing how to teleport from a planet to
a starship, or obtain a “Babel fish”
from a vending machine (allow at
least two hours for that), you 11 slow-
ly grow to be a bona fide hitchhiker,
worthy of survival in the galaxy.
This is a funny game. But, like all
Infocom adventures, it often is frus- |
trating. There are many steps to fol-
low and so many puzzles to solve
that you should count on at least
100 hours of game time to finish it.
Still, if you’re willing to tough it out.
this is one of the best examples of
interactive fiction around. (See in-
terview with Adams in this issue.)
IUJUM
R1UJUM
BOOTED
UP
, ANY ..
DRAGONWDRLD
AZO N
4 .„ jV 1 ., ^ ' ,-
TRILLIUM
ntil recently, interactive fiction
seemed to be getting rather
stagnant. After all, every com-
pany has already gone through
the tried-and-true adventure
game themes of medieval bat-
tles between wizards and dragons, hard-
boiled detective stories, treasure seeking a
la Indiana Jones in perilous old temples and
ruins, and science-fictiony searches
through futuristic, but deserted, planets,
asteroids and spaceships many times over;
things seemed to be getting rather repeti-
tive. Once in a while a really original game
would appear, but that was a rare occur-
ence. There’s no question that what we
needed was an influx of new ideas.
Finding new ideas was harder than it
sounds — even Infocom's Planetfall and
Enchanter were — as far as their plots were
concerned — basically rehashings of old,
used concepts. It quickly became evident
that companies would have to start look-
ing outside the market for a souce of
originality. And so, in a fit of inspiration, or
perhaps desperation, several companies
simultaneously cast their eyes upon their
bookshelves.
The decision to make adventure games
out of books should not come as a surprise
— players of Dungeons & Dragons-type
role-playing games have been doing it for
years. Books are wonderful as sources of
imaginative escapist entertainment, but
BOOKS
LATELY?
By CHARLES ARDAI
Software
Companies Take
A Novel
Approach to
New Kinds of
Entertainment
too often readers fall into the “I would
have done it differently" syndrome. By
their very nature, books make readers
observers of, rather than participants in,
any action that they depict. Only by con-
verting a book to a more interactive for-
mat, like a role-playing game or a
‘ 'Choose- You r-Own- Ad ventu re ' ' type
book, can a reader truly take part in the
events detailed within its covers.
However, both formats have problems.
Role-playing games almost always require
two or more players. "Choose-Your-Own-
Adventure” books are very limited, lacking
both the element of human interaction and
the overall complexity found in a full role-
playing game. What's more, such "in-
teractive books” are much too open to
unintentional cheating.
Computeradventure games may not yet
be able to duplicate human interaction, but
the best of today’s technology comes
pretty close. Certainly, computers can easi-
ly mimic the complexity of a role-playing
game, and they never allow a player to
see the solution to a puzzle before he has
found it for himself. The connection was
made: What better way to boost the
adventure game industry than to take
ideas from the boundless imagination of
books?
Obviously this train of thought, or one
very similar, has been passing through the
minds of a number of game designers and
Electronic Games 27
BOOTED-UP
BOOKS
industry executives, since over the past
few months various types of book-based
adventure games have been turning up on
the market at a tremendous rate. Epyx was
one of the first to enter the field with
Dragonriders of Pern, a strategy adventure
based on the bestselling sci-fi series by
Anne McCaffrey, and Robots of Dawn, a
futuristic whodunnit mystery game con-
verted from the novel of the same title by
Isaac Asimov. Forthcoming is a second
Pern game called Moreta: Dragonlady of
Pern, also being released by Epyx. Infocom
recently released a Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy adventure, based on the
hilarious cult classic by Douglas Adams.
Quicksilva's The Snowman has its roots in
a novel by Raymond Briggs. And, of
course, the entire Wyndham Classics and
Telarium (nee Trillium) lines of adventure
games are based on famous books or were
written by well-known authors.
The Telarium games are unique in that
they depend more heavily on input from
the authors on whose books they are
based than do the games made by most
other companies. Seth Godin, Telarium's
founder, explained the company's unusual
practice of giving the writers an opportu-
nity to play a major role in the creation of
each new game. "These games are very
much like movies and books because they
are both visual and literary," he said. "We
wanted to go to the people who could
write that the best. And that's not pro-
grammers — it’s authors."
Infocom followed a similar policy when
Adams approached them with the idea of a
Hitchhiker's game. They gave him a free
hand in writing the general story and the
various encounters, and had ex-science
fiction author and designer of Ptanetfall
Anne McCaffrey, whose sci-fi books are the basis of two games from Epyx
Author Douglas Adams and designer Steve
Steven Meretsky write it into an adventure
game format. The results of this unique col-
laboration can be seen throughout the
game, which is filled with Adams' very dis-
tinct sense of humor. Not only does
Hitchhiker's play well, but it reads well,
too. As an experimental way to design an
adventure game, Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy is a success.
A different point of view is held over at
Epyx, where talented game designers and
programmers were the ones to create both
Pern games and Robots of Dawn with little
input by the authors whatsoever. Accord-
ing to Robert Votch, a representative of
Epyx, Anne McCaffrey did meet with the
programmers to discuss and offer sugges-
tion for both Pern games, the second more
so than the first. In addition, she approved
the final versions of both games. Still, most
of the actual design work and program-
ming was done without McCaffrey's pres-
ence.
However, compared with the amount of
input that Isaac Asimov had in the Robots
of Dawn game, Ms. McCaffrey’s might as
well have written both Pern games single-
handedly. Mr. Votch reported that
although the licensing agreement was
made through his publisher, Dr. Asimov
did participate in the design of the game
through a set of guidelines that he sent in
to Epyx. Dr. Asimov contends that he hard-
ly even knew of the game's existence until
a copy of the finished product found its
way to his home — a copy he couldn't
even try out since his computer, which he
uses for word processing, is a TRS-80.
Would Asimov be interested in actually
writing a game some time in the future?
"Not really," he says. "If it were earlier in
my writing career, maybe. But as it is, I'm
too busy with my writing to start any other
projects." (At a rate of about one book
28 Electronic Games
Meretzky of the infamous Hitchhiker's Guide.
Byron Preiss with Telarium's Dragonworld.
every three weeks, Dr. Asimov is one of the
nation's most prolific authors.) And his
opinion of computer games in general?
"We are faced with a new technology, and
as always, we must accept the products of
that technology."
New technology did indeed play a major
role in the creation of these new book-
games. Only a few years ago, an adven-
ture was considered complex if it con-
tained more than a dozen rooms. Now,
recent leaps in technology have made
possible complex adventures with over a
hundred rooms, like Telarium's Rendez-
vous with Rama, a suspenseful game
which takes place in a gigantic space com-
plex. Telarium's other games are relatively
massive, too; Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit
451, a sequel to the acclaimed, world fa-
mous novel, is set in a futuristic New York
City with a total of seventy key locations to
wander through, and the more traditional
Dragonworld whose medieval city of Kan-
desh includes sixty accessible areas.
Similar technical advances have made
animated graphic sequences and back-
ground music not only a reality, but a stan-
dard feature of many adventure games.
The Telarium and Wyndham games, for
instance, all boast outstanding graphics
and wonderfully atmospheric music.
Byron Preiss, head of Byron Preiss Video
Productions, worked on the production of
a number of Telarium games including
Robert Heinlein's Starman Jones, Brad-
bury's Fahrenheit 451, Rendezvous with
Rama, for which author Arthur C. Clarke
wrote a brand-new surprise ending, and
Dragonworld which he co-authored as a
novel with Michael Reaves. In discussing
the games, he explained why it is so much
more difficult for an author to write an
adventure game than it is to write a novel.
"[When writing an adventure] you have
to anticipate a heck of a lot more, to un-
derstand the consequences of the charact-
ers' actions in more than one way. When
you doa book, you can just say, ‘Okay, this
is how it is going to happen, and that's it'.
When you do a game, you have to realize
that someone can do many different things
in any given situation. You have to pre-
guess the players so that the events you
put in seem logical."
On the flip side of these problems, cele-
brated writer Alan Dean Foster, author of
countless movie novelizations and the
popular Spellsinger series (the fourth
volume of which, Perturbations of the Per-
ambulator, is being released soon), was
faced with some rather unusual difficulties
in writing a novelization of the Telarium
game Shadowkeep. The game is a hybrid
of Wizardry-style action and a typical
adventure game scenario, which involves
saving a mythical world from destruction
at the hands of a menagerie of evil,
Continued on page 74
Arthur C. Clarke, Byron Preiss and D. Harris.
Electronic Games 29
LET 'EM KNOW
YOU PLAY
TO WIN!
Do you crave action and adventure, love
fantasy, and gobble up thrills? Let
everyone know exactly what your favorite
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fare can get.
'That’s for sure," says Kranon, a veteran ’
of many a campaign. "I wouldn’t want to
be in the shoes of those namby-pamby
Federation types when they see me and
my fellow Romulans barreling down their
throats."
The Games network also tends toward
the fantasy/role-playing epics. But before
you get to play, you have to access the
terminal program with special software,
then log-on using icons instead of punch-
ing in text. At this point, the screen displays
the closed doors of a Customs office. Once
you're admitted, you assume control of a
joystick-driven robot surrogate that jour-
neys through a city, stopping at the Post
Office (to send or collect mail), and the
Social building, where the game
Spacelanes is stored.
sidering we bit off his ear during the last
session, this was quite an accomplishment.
There is a bottom line to all of this col-
lective vicarious pleasure that goes beyond
flaying electronic blood and guts across
your monitors, coast-to-coast. There’s got
to be more to telegaming. . . Consider this
scenario: 200 people playing a high-gloss
version of some Dungeons and Dragons
show, where your persona has a given life
span of 3,000 hours. With some kind of
artificial intelligence program at work, you
are reincarnated to another character;
pod-like you invade another player's body.
Robert DeMarrais, ex-MIT hacker,
zealous mathematician, and religious gam-
er, has written about telegaming: "The
real key isn’t simulation, but the capacity to
miniaturize. Video arcade, sports arena,
bridge, and chess and strategic games
Consider this scenario: 200
people playing a high-gloss
version of some Dungeons &
Dragons show. . .
Set in a futuristic "Gray sector" where
lawlessness is the way of the world,
Spacelanes is monitored by an on-line ref-
eree named Pilot, who makes suggestions
and arbitrates events. Pilot also is empow-
ered to post the times and dates of
Spacelanes sessions, giving you ample
time to plan and discuss possible scenarios
with fellow participants. Using the whisper
mode — it allows you to speak to a
selected person without anyone else
knowing — we went ahead and made a
secret pact with Allswell. We had been
displaying open hostility towards each
other the last few sessions, but apparently
Allswell was ready to agree to a truce. Con-
club; community theater, free school, and
information conduit, all packaged into one
enormous trip, magically compacted on a
microchip."
As far as miniature war goes, we all may
find Defense Department WOPR main-
frames as easy to penetrate as it’s been for
those teen hackers, who would love to
play Chernenko and nuke Seattle and Las
Vegas. As long as the phrase "acceptable
losses" permeates nuclear war vocabulary,
it will remain the ultimate game for adults.
Remember in War Games what Professor
Falken said about tic-tac-toe? It’s the
grand metaphor, because it always ends in
a tie. You just can’t win. 0
BOOTED UP
ANY GOOD
BOOKS LATEY?
Continued from page 29
demon-controlled monsters. The problems
that arose came partly from the fact that,
because players are allowed to create their
own characters to use in the game, the
game script that Foster was presented with
was sorely lacking in characterization and
plot development. In addition, he was
faced with the dilemma of having to write
the book without revealing too many of
the game’s secrets.
"This is the hardest book I’ve ever had to
write," said Foster. "I had to describe the
game in relation to my characters and the
story, without really describing the game. I
had to make it work as a novel without
giving everything in the game away. On
the other hand, I couldn't change things,
because I didn't want to do anything in the
book that would directly contradict the
game.”
Shadowkeep is not the only Telarium
game that was not actually preceded by a
book; Amazon, written entirely by author
and filmmaker Michael Crichton, has no
literary ties other than those of its author,
whose credits include the screenplay to
Coma and the novel The Terminal Man.
Amazon, with its highly animated, movie-
style, fast-paced game sequences, is easily
Telarium's most innovative game. Actual-
ly, all of the Telarium games are innovative
as each one experiments with its own
unique graphic and prose styles.
The Wyndham Classics line of games is
74 Electronic Games
similar in general style and presentation to
the Telarium line, both being subsidiaries
of Spinnaker Software. The major differ-
ence between the two is that Wynd-
ham games are intended for young chil-
dren, and so stray less from the texts that
inspired them and are easier to solve. The
Wyndham library includes The Wizard of
Oz, Under the Root, Treasure Island and
Robin Hood. In a similar vein, Quicksilva's
The Snowman is also targeted at a young
audience.
All in all, book-based adventure games
are still in an experimental phase. New
concepts are always arising, and changes
are constantly being made. The continual
evolution of the field can already be seen in
the increased involvement that authors are
having in all stages of game design — Ray
Bradbury even wrote the packaging blurb
for the Fahrenheit 451 game.
What's ahead for this new breed of
adventure game? For Telarium, the answer
is simple: more author input, more anima-
tion and music, more characterization and
character interaction, but fewer typical
adventure game situations and fewer logic
puzzles. “The games that are being de-
signed now," says Seth Godin, “don't
have any logic puzzles in them at all. In the
next generation of games, staying in char-
acter is more important than anything else
. . . we're constantly reinforcing in the
games the character that you have to play,
and by doing that, we make the player
identify with that character more strongly.
The ending [to Fahrenheit 451] is such a
climax that people have called us saying
that they were in tears at the end — and
the reason that they were is that we forced
them to believe in the character that they
were playing."
For Infocom, the Hitchhiker's game
might have been a one-shot deal — even
though the game does end with the defi-
nite promise of a sequel. (If you've got the
game and don't want to wait until the end
to find out about this, try typing, “CON-
SULT GUIDE ABOUT MAGRATHEA.")
The only impediment to the creation of a
sequel involves the game's authors;
Adams, having just finished the fourth
Hitchhiker's book, a Hitchhiker's movie
screenplay and this game, may want to
take a break for a while. Meretsky might
want to try his hand at a different type of
adventure, but even if he does want to stay
with science-fiction comedy, he already
has a commitment to making a sequel to
Planetfall, an adventure which many gam-
ers feel is Infocom's best.
On the other hand, even if no second
Hitchhiker's game is forthcoming, there's
no reason for Infocom to give up the entire
field of novel-based games; there must be
plenty of authors who would jump at the
chance to write an adventure with them.
Though Infocom has announced no such
plans for the immediate future, making
more book-games is something that they
should consider. After all, their first at-
Michael Crichton, author and designer
All of the
Telarium games
are innovative
as each one
experiments with
its own unique
prose and
graphics style.
tempt was a success, and there is no reason
to doubt that future attempts would turn
out as well.
Another entrant into the field is Synapse
Software, a company long known for its
arcade adaptations and popular games like
Blue Max, whose new line of games con-
sists of what it calls “electronic novels".
Twelve of these unusual text adventures
are under development, the first bunch of
which are titled Mindwheel, Essex, Brim-
stone and Ronin. These games, while not
actually based on books, are written by
authors; in fact, each game comes with an
incomplete hardcover novel which in-
troduces the player to the story and the
characters of the game. Also unusual is
that these games are focused around char-
acter interaction and conversation rather
than intuitive reasoning and logic.
The scenarios of the games are also
unique. No more dull, mundane dragon
slaying — the Synapse games are really
original. Mindwheel, for instance, sends
the player into the minds of a rock star, a
general, a poet and a scientist in search of
the information necessary to receive the
Mindwheel and save the world. Essex has
the player caught up in interstellar intrigue,
forced into service as a messenger who has
to give a secret document to the captain of
a giant space world, a task complicated by
the fact that the “world" has a population
of 65,000 and no one seems to know
where the captain is. Brimstone is another
tale of intrigue, though this time the game
takes place in various countries on Earth, a
true international feel created by having
foreign characters speak foreign lan-
guages. Ronin places the player in the
midst of Japanese feudal society. At press
time, no information was available about
their fifth game, whose working title is
Breakers.
Each Synapse game was written over a
period of a year by a design team of the
author and two programmers. Mindwheel
and Essex were written by Robert Pinsky
and Bill Darrah, respectively.
As for other companies, other authors
and other games, only time will tell. The
Wyndham production calendar includes
computerized versions of Jonathan
Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Jules Verne's
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Ken-
neth Grahame's Wind in the Willows.
Harry Harrison, who used to be a com-
mercial artist before becoming famous for
science-fiction novels like Make Room!
Make Room!, just' finished writing and
illustrating a game for Telarium called
Starsmashers and the Galaxy Rangers. Also
scheduled from Telarium is a game based
on Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber.
However, as far as their long-range
plans are concerned, few companies are
eager to divulge any secrets. For the most
part, the industry’s sentiment is echoed in
Seith Godin's cryptic comment that,
“we've got a few things up our sleeves."
Speculation as to the nature of those
"few things" leads one to wonder just
what the future holds for book-based
adventure games. Perhaps, as Alan Dean
Foster advocates, the games will be pack-
aged together with, or at least sold along
with, the books that inspired them. Hope-
fully, the games will branch off into other
genres besides science-fiction and fantasy;
a mystery adventure by Mickey Spillane or
Michael Innes, for instance, would surely
have an audience, and playing an adven-
ture dreamt up by Piers Anthony or
Stephen King would certainly be a unique
experience.
The future will probably see de-
scendants of these games being used for
educational purposes, maybe even to help
children learn to read. Already the games
that are available today are exposing com-
puter users to books that they might never
76 Electronic Games
even have looked at under other circum-
stances. In fact, some universities are already
using Infocom adventures in remedial
reading courses. All adventure games en-
courage reading, and gamers who would
otherwise hardly give a book like Fahrenheit
451 a second glance may be tempted to
read it after playing the adventure.
Book-based interactive fiction is a whole
new field of computer software that has
taken the adventure gaming industry by
storm. These games are entertaining,
Book-based
interactive fiction
is a whole
new field that
has taken
the adventure
gaming industry
by storm.
6a!-a'’t ne 3:571 S-3 9S
Over 3 months on
the New York Times Bestseller List
ROBOTS
DRUID
sophisticated and intellectually stimulat-
ing, while at the same time being exciting
and fun to play And though one can never
predict anything with certainty in the con-
stantly changing computer industry, it
seems that these games have a bright fu-
ture ahead of them. If nothing else, these
games have given new meaning to the
phrase "computer literacy." 0
HUSH 80 PRINTER
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There comes a time when you
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also want hard copy so you can
show it off. Then you start think-
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The HUSH 80 is a full 80-
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It gets its name from being one of
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fits edge-on in your briefcase,
making it fully portable.
The HUSH 80 uses full 8 V 2 "
thermal paper and has a con-
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suddenly notice the paper is run-
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The price of Inovion's Personal
Graphics System can be a bit off-
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$20,000. In that context, it looks
like a real bargain.
The system has a multitude of
options and functions including
Frame Grab, to freeze TV or video
signals, 32 different brushes and
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system that comes with a 6502
microprocessor and a 19” color
monitor. Interface software for
the IBM PC, Apple lie and Macin-
tosh is now available
Electronic Games 77
ADVENTURE GAMES TAKE YOU ON A VACATION
TO A PLACE AS VIVID AS YOUR IMAGINATION
e
t
ou won't need a passport to vacation in
laraway lands this summer — the boulcvaids ot
Paris and the pyramids of Egypt are onlv as l.u
away as the nearest adventure ^11111 ..lust
don't expect a tom guide to show you around,
1 01 1/011/ decisions determine what happens on
this kind of trip. If you type <-o NOUl li in an .ill
text adventure like Zork, the program will dis
pla\ a paragraph of piose describing tin new
lo< at ion you've just 1 cached: (AiAinoi 1 in
' 1 \nn\ ID I.M in\ i Mil I h
BY SHAY ADDAMS
I UK l.IMKSTONK. till K( >()M (.LOWS Will I DIM IK, III
I’KOVIDKP l»V I’tlOSl'ilOKlSl I.N I MOSS. AM' WilKD
SHADOWS MOV! AM. AI<oi\D VOI ! A NAI.K'OW I'MII
WINDS AMONd lilt SI Al ADWi I KS Hut type ill t ,o
SOI 1 II and you may wind up at the local < lull
Med (iraphic adventures show a game's « 1 1 1 1 . 1
cut locations, people, and objects with high
resolution pit tun s and hi icily sum up the sit
nation in a lew lines ot text below
In addition to sightseeing, you have a spi
\
> 1 ■
ADVENTURE-GAME
GLOSSARY
Command: The Instructions you
type In to tell the program what you
want to do next. In some adventures,
commands are limited to a simple
noun-verb combination, though the
best games accept complete sen-
tences.
Risk accost: A program often
must access the disk to obtain the
next illustration or text, or to decide
how to respond to a command.
First>porson animation: With
this technique, the entire picture
changes to give the impression that
you are moving closer to it. It’s al-
most a 3-D effect.
Hard copy: Some adventures offer
the option of simultaneously sending
text to the printer, so you can study
it for clues later on.
Parser: Invisible to the player,
this part of an adventure “reads''
your command by comparing it with
the words in the program's vocabu-
lary. Well-programmed parsers enable
you to concentrate on the game rath-
er than on trying to communicate
with the program.
Restore game: The act of loading
a saved game to continue plaving it.
Rave game: An option that al-
lows you to save a game in progress
and return to finish it later. The nec-
essary information automatically is
stored on disk.
Spot animation: A technique in
which a small portion of a graphic
adventure’s illustration changes
quickly to simulate motion.
Vocabulary: The words that a
particular adventure program will
understand. Games with large vocab-
ularies have various parts of speech,
such as adjectives and adverbs, that
expand the variety of possible ac-
tions.
cific goal to accomplish on your travels. It may
involve solving a sinister crime or retrieving
fabulous treasures from a forbidding cavern —
but don’t expect to stroll around casually
scooping up gold and jewels. Access to many
locations and hiding places is barred unless
you possess special objects or passwords. The
path may be blocked by a turbulent river, but
after gathering logs and a vine from the jungle
you could type tie logs with vine or make boat
and get across. This kind of logical problem-
solving — in which you must rely on your brain
rather than your reflexes and eye/hand coordi-
nation — is the essence of the adventuring expe-
rience.
. shay addams is publisher
and editor of
Questbusters, a
monthly newsletter
denoted to adventure
games. He Is also co-
author of The Greatest
Games The 93 Best
Computer Games of All
Time.
HOW TO CHOOSE A GAME
To make certain you don't make reserva-
tions for the wrong destination. I’ve rounded
up the adventures that most effectively stimu-
late the imagination and transport you to an-
other world. In an all-text game, much hinges
on the clarity and eloquence of the prose. In
graphic games, the quality of the art and color
schemes is important. Other factors I consid-
ered were whether a game’s problems were in-
geniously planned and whether clues and hints
were distributed fairly. The intelligence of the
program’s parser — a part of the program that
enables you to type in commands — and the ex-
tent of its vocabulary also were weighed.
Each game’s suggested skill level is noted
in the accompanying chart. If this is the first
time you’ve gone adventuring, try an introduc-
tory-level game — too many people get frustrated
and give up because they begin with a game
that’s designed for experts. After single-hand-
edly finishing an introductory' game, you’ll be
ready to try any of the novice-level adventures.
The intermediate-level programs are best ap-
proached by people who have solved two or
three games from the lower skill levels. Ad-
vanced games require more patience and tfme
(up to three months) to solve, and those de-
scribed as “Masters only’’ contain the thorniest
problems of all.
Though adventure games are designed to
be played by one person, two or more heads can
come in handy. And keep in mind that except
for the varying skill levels and subject matter,
most adventure games have similar play sys-
tems. Those listed in this article are all good, so
choose the subject matter that excites your
imagination, and wander into wonderland.
FANTASYLANDS
The most popular subjects for adventure
games are fantasylands, science fiction, mys-
teries, and what I like to call (for lack of a
longer name) the "Indiana Jones is alive and
well in an adventure game" category.
Fantasylands are first on the itinerary,
and Zork is the all-time classic. Inspired by
William Crowther and Don Woods’ 1977 Origi-
nal Adventure (Colossal Caves), Zork was
written on a mainframe computer by students
at M.I.T. An all-text game, Zork introduced the
full-sentence parser, which allows players to
type in more than two words at a time. When
the students (Marc Blank and Mike Berlyn)
founded Infocom and converted Zork to run on
microcomputers, they sliced the game into
three programs.
Zork I sends you into the ruins of the Great
Underground Empire to retrieve a platinum
bar, Neptune’s trident, and 17 other treasures.
The main obstacles are a murderous thief and
a bewildering maze. With a fairy tale atmo-
sphere, Zork II carries you deeper into a world
ruled by magic as well as logic, where you en-
counter a dragon, a unicorn, and a princess.
The Wizard of Frobozz will interfere with your
quest for 10 more treasures, but his magical
antics are often as funny as they are frustrat-
ing. The final game, Zork III, has a melancholy
feel and an enigmatic goal that only becomes
apparent as you penetrate the deepest regions
of the underworld and come face to face with
the Dungeon Master.
Some fantasyland adventures unfold in a
“days of yore” setting. Sherwood Forest invites
you to drop in on merry old England and fill
Robin Hood's shoes as he seeks to win the
heart of Maid Marian. Drawn in a cartoon style,
the bright-color graphics are embellished with
occasional spot animation, such as the shifty
tax collector’s eyes blinking open and shut.
King's Quest, set in the mythical kingdom of
Daventry, shows off the sharpest hi res art ever
seen in any kind of computer game. It also
employs arcade-style animation to depict a
young knave named Sir Grahame, whom you
steer about via joystick or keyboard control on
his quest to find a magic mirror, a magic
shield, and a chest full of gold coins. The ugly
trolls, a broom-riding witch, and some other
nasty characters also are animated.
38 FAMILY COMPUTING
Coveted Mirror is another “days of yore"
lantasy. You have to locate a missing piece of a
magic mirror before the evil King Voar gets it,
or the land falls under his reign forever. Doors
and windows actually swing open when you
type open door, and other instances of spot
animation enhance this good-looking game.
Based on a recent fantasy novel, Dragon-
world involves an exciting journey to the imag-
narv territory' of Simbala to save “the last drag-
>n" from unknown captors. The screen shows
i4 text lines, while most graphic adventures
use only four. And instead of full-screen graph-
ics, three small pictures across the top of the
screen illustrate the story. (This is true of most
of Spinnaker’s Telarium adventures, which
also include well-orchestrated music and
sound effects.) Dragonworld has three joy-
tick-controlled action games built in.
SCIENCE FICTION
Science-fiction adventures replace kings
and dragons with robots and spaceships. In
Planetfall. you crash-land on an uncharted
planet and save an alien civilization from cer-
tain death. (What a holiday!) Floyd the robot,
one of adventuredom’s most personable char-
acters, keeps you laughing throughout.
Another hilarious space epic, The Hitch-
hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was adapted from
Doug Adams’ novel (see interview). In it, you
journey across the universe to the legendary
planet of Magrathea.
If you’d rather be juggling robots, visit the
planet Contra in Suspended. The game pre-
sents an unusual challenge: A gang of robots
serves as your eyes, ears, and hands while you
'ell them how to repair a damaged under-
ground control center.
Back on planet Earth, Fahrenheit 451
transforms Ray Bradbury’s novel into an in-
triguing graphic adventure. The backdrop is
New York City in the far future, where the fire
department bums books instead of extinguish-
ing blazes. Your goal is to foil its plans, which
necessitates joining forces with the literary un-
derground. Each rebel demands to hear a fa-
mous quote from classic novels such as Moby
Dick, and many of the problems involve figur-
ing out passwords. Bradbury worked with the
programmers and wrote some of the game’s
text, which is unusually evocative and poetic.
WHODUNNIT?
More down to earth, mystery games put
you in charge of investigating a crime. The
classic example is Deadline, an all-text "who-
c unnit, ’’ written in the style of a Raymond
C handler novel. With an assistant named Duf-
fy, you must unravel the murder of a wealthy
industrialist by questioning suspects and dig-
ging up clues in Connecticut. If you’d rather
visit Europe. Earthly Delights offers a first-
class ticket. In Paris and the Swiss Alps, you’ll
track down a stolen painting and take on an
International crime ring.
BEST ADVENTURE GAMES
•AMI’
Style
Computer
skin uvii
Maawf«ctvr#r
Me#*
FANTASTUNDI
Covetr’d Mirror
G
AP
Novice
Penguin
834.95
Dragonworld
G
AP. C 64. IBM
PC/PCjr (128K)
Novice
Telarium
832 95-639.95
Enchanter
T
see below 3
Intermediate
lnfocom
634.95-839.95
King's Quest
G
AP. IBM PC
( 128K); PCjr
Advanced
Sierra ;
IBM
649.95
649 95
Lucifer's Realm
G
AP. AT. C 64
Intermediate
Zoom
839.95
Microsoft
Adoenture
T
IBM PC /PCjr
Advanced
IBM
634.95
Sherwood Fest
G
AP
Intermediate
Zoom
834.95
Sorcerer
T
see below 3
Advanced
lnfocom
639.95-844.95
Transylvania
G
AP, AT. C 64.
IBM PC/PC/r,
MAC
Novice
Penguin
634.95-639.95
Zork I
T
see below 3
Intermediate
lnfocom
834.95-639.95
Zork II
T
see below 3
Masters only
lnfocom
634.95-644.95
Zork HI
T
see below 3
Advanced
lnfocom
839.95-644.95
SCIENCE FICTION
Cyborg
T
AP. AT. C 64;
MAC
Advanced
Sentient ;
Broderbund
834.95:
839.95
Fahrenheit 451
G
AP. IBM PC/PCjr
Intermediate
Telarium
832.95-639.95
Forbidden
Quest
T
AP. C 64, MAC,
IBM PC/PCjr
Intermediate
Pryority
839.95-644.95
Hitchhiker's
Guide
T
see below 3
Advanced
lnfocom
S34. 95-639.95
Mission
Asteroid
G
AP, AT. C 64
Introductory
Sierra
819.95-829.95
Planetfall
T
see below 3
Advanced
lnfocom
834.95-639.95
Starcross
T
see below' 3
Intermediate
lnfocom
849.95
Suspended
T
see below 3
Intermediate
lnfocom
844.95-849.95
The Tracer
Sanction
G
C 64. IBM PC/
PCjr
Introductory
Activision
829.95-839.95
WHODUNNIT
The Alpine
Encounter
G
AP
Novice
Random
House
829.95-639.95
Deadline
T
see below' 3
Masters only
lnfocom
644.95-649.95
Earthly
Delights
T
AP, C 64,
IBM PC
Novice
Datamost
619.95
Masquerade
G
AP. C 64
Masters only
Zoom
634.95
Mindshadow
G
C 64, IBM PC/
PCjr
Introductory
Activision
829.95-639.95
Ripper
T
C 64
Novice
Avalon Hill
825
Suspect
T
see below 3
Advanced
lnfocom
839.95-644.95
Witness
T
see below 3
Introductory
lnfocom
834.95-639.95
Amazon
G
AP, C 64 IBM
PC /PCjr (64K)
Player-
adjustable
Telarium
632.95-639.95
Infidel
T
see below 3
Intermediate
lnfocom
639.95-644.95
Mask of the
Sun
G
AP, AT, C 64
Advanced
Broderbund
839.95
Serpent's Star
G
AP, AT, C 64
Advanced
Broderbund
639.95
INTERACTIVE FICTION 4
Cutthroats
T
see below 3
Novice
lnfocom
834.95-639.95
Mindwheel
T
AP. AT, C 64,
IBM PC/PC/r
(64K). MAC
Intermediate
Synapse
639.95-644.95
KID STUFF
Below the Root
G
AP. C 64
Introductory
Spinnaker
82G.95
Cave Girl
Claire
G
AP
Introductory
Rhiannon
839.95
Gwendolyn:
Pursuit of a
Princess
G
AT. C 64
Introductory
Artworx
819.95
Mickey’s Space
Adventure
AP, C 64
Introductory
Sierra
639.95
Seastalker
T
see below 3
Introductory'
lnfocom
834.95-639.95
Swiss Family
Robinson
G
AP. C 64
Introductory
Spinnaker
626.95
Tales of
Discovery
G
AP. C 64, IBM
PC/PC/r
Introductory
Scholastic
624 95-829.95
Winnie The
Pooh
G
AP. C 64. IBM
PC/PC/r
Introductory
Sierra
639.95
T = all text; G = graphics; AP = Apple 11 series; C 64 = Commodore 64. AT - Atari; MAC = Macintosh
FOOTNOTSS
'Ail games are on disk and require a minimum of 48K except lnfocom's (32K)
"Price varies depending on computer version
3 Most lnfocom adventures are available for: Apple 11 aeries and Macintosh. Atari, Commodore 64 flr
Plus/4. IBM PC/PC/r, Tandy 1000 & 2000. T1-994A, and TRS-80 CoCo & Model 111 In many cases.
Commodore markets the C 64 version
4 Other games also qualify for this heading See article text
• riB-
->
JUNK 19H5 39
Ck« HOW DO YOU MAKE FICTION "INTERACTIVE"?
A. I DUNNO. ASK HITCHHIKER'S DOUG ADAMS.
Born in Cambridge,
England, In 1952,
Douglas Adams at-
tended Cambridge
University, where he
collaborated with
many of the comedy
writers who later cre-
^ , v VrVvv.‘>' ate d -Monty Python's
Flying Circus" and "Not the Nine O'Clock
News" for British television. AJter gradu-
ating in 1974. Adams penned several
episodes of the "Dr. Who" TV series be-
fore finding time to write a radio show
called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy." The show's cult Jollowing
turned into an international audience
when Adams’ book version was pub-
lished in America in the early '80s. He
recently completed So Long. And Thanks
for All the Fish, which picks up where the
Hitchhiker’s triology left off. Adams had
just finished the screenplay for the book
when he discussed his adventure game
adaptation of Hitchhiker’s Guide and its
potential effect on the digital watch in-
dustry and civilization as we know it.
Q: What was the first adventure game
you played?
A: Original Adventure [the first adven-
ture game, by Crowther and Woods], on
The Source about a year-and-a-half ago
while living in Los Angeles. I guess my
first commercial game was Suspended.
That was the only one I actually played to
the bitter end and completely finished. 1
played Deadline and Zork 1 and Starcross
about the same time, but never finished
them.
Qi What about graphic games?
A: I’m not so interested in graphic
games. I think text is better for the imagi-
nation. There’s a role for graphics in the
games if they do things that are kind of
incidental to the story, but I wouldn’t like
to see not-very-w r ell-realized sort of car-
toon figures of the characters in the story.
That would spoil it for me. I think. “Well I
can imagine better than that. Why not
just give me the text?’’
Q: Are adventure games popular in En-
gland?
A: Yes. they are. 1 haven't played any of
them. The thing is, in England there are
more home computers per capita than
anywhere else in the world. But they re
mostly very small machines. Sinclairs,
and an awful lot of them don’t have disk
drives and don't have a lot of memory. So
games that require a lot of disk space and
memory have not made commercial in-
roads in England. The lnfocom games are
pretty much a cult thing there. When I
was doing Hitchhiker, 1 phoned around all
the English bulletin boards to see what
the level of awareness of lnfocom was. It
was very’ strong, but amongst a fanatical
minority.
O: You mention telecomputing. What’s it
like in England?
A: Not nearly as developed as in the U.S.
for one simple reason: getting modems is
a lot more difficult and expensive. If a
modem runs at 1200 baud it won t run at
300 baud. They’re two completely differ-
ent standards. And the reason for this is
that British Telecom has had (although
they’ll shortly lose it) a monopoly on any-
thing to do with the phone system. And
they’re terTiblv. terribly slow and old-fash-
ioned and don’t like the idea of people
having modems.
When 1 was working on the game [from
England], with Steve [Infocom’s Meretzky]
in Boston, we did a lot of it by electronic
mail.
Q: How does writing an adventure differ
from writing a novel?
A: I suppose it’s more a difference of de-
gree than a fundamental difference. When
you're writing a book you’re constantly
aware of the reactions you’re trying to pro-
voke in the reader: how you intend to play
with or manipulate those reactions, and
the surprises you're going to spring;
whether you want to lull them into a sense
of false security in which they think they
know what’s going on. You just have a
much greater ability to do that when
you're writing an adventure game, be-
cause you’re actually soliciting the reac-
tion from the player, and the program u’ill
then know how to deal with that re-
sponse. So you’re fooling around with the
reader/player a great deal more. Which is a
natural extension of what you're doing
when you’re writing.
Q: What do you project for the future of
adventure games as interactive fiction?
A: 1 feel that it's a completely new medi-
um that we've only got one toe in — and
there’s a whole ocean out there. We’re still
very much constrained. 1 feel, by the tradi-
tional forms of novel writing. One doesn’t
necessarily need to be. 1 don t think
breakthroughs come through suddenly,
but that each time one sits down to work
out a problem or the structure of an ad-
venture game, 1 think you turn around
the next comer and see another possibili-
ty and you turn another comer and you
see another possibility. And every now
and then it's as if you go past a little
window or a little crack in the wall and
you see a whole vast vista of possibilities.
I think adventure games could become a
very, very extraordinary and different,
imaginative form of storytelling.
Q: Will it someday replace books?
A: People are always asking that silly
question. Of course not. People said that
about books when radio came out. and
the same thing about radio when TV came
out. But I think we keep on adding new
media for storytelling. And none of them
is killed by new forms. There’s something
particularly distinctive about the experi-
ence of reading a book: it's like nothing <
else. And nothing else wdll replace it. !
Something else may add to it, but noth-
ing’s going to replace it. I suppose TV
dealt quite a nasty body blow to radio,
w’hich is a shame because I think radio is
a much better medium than television. In
the words of a small boy who was asked
the difference between the tw r o, “In radio
the scenery is better.” That’s the strength
of all text games — the scenery is better
than that of graphic games.
I think there’s an awful long way for
adventure games, interactive fiction,
whatever you want to call it, to go. And 1
hope that more people will come into that
field from outside the computer field. Up
until now r , it’s been rather like, well, imag-
ine if everything ever written on a type-
w’riter had been written by the guys who
invented the typewriter. — s A
For mystery with a twist, investigate Mind-
shadow. While suffering from amnesia, you
crisscross 19th-century Europe searching for
clues to your identity. Mindshadow s graphics
represent genuine computer art. and the pro-
gram includes a separate “adventure tutorial"
as well as on-line help for beginners.
Robots of Dawn qualifies for tw’o catego-
ries, since this computer version of Isaac
Asimov’s novel rockets you across the universe
(science fiction) to determine who killed a robot
(whodunnit). The program loads entirely into
the computer’s RAM. so no disk access is re-
quired — Commodore 64 adventurists will set
the appropriate response to their commands
almost immediately.
INDIANA JONES
There's no mystery about the inspiration o
adventures that defy you to retrieve the trea
sures of ancient civilizations — Indiana Joint •
would feel right at home in any of them. In fide
is an invitation to explore a lost pyramid ii
Egypt, while The Serjicnt's Star concerns at
expedition to find a fabled gem in Tibet. Ih
latter is interspersed with cinematic first pet
40 JAMMY COMl’in IN( ■
•son animation (see glossary), so the snow-
capped peaks seem to grow larger and closer
with each step as you trek through the Himala-
yan mountains.
If Tibet is too far from home, how about
South America? Amazon, written by novelist/
film producer Michael Crichton, unfurls Telar-
ium's finest full-screen graphics as you look for
the lost city of Chak and its emerald mines. A
.vise-cracking parrot named Paco rides your
shoulder and offers clues. So does a minicom-
puter that enables you to telecommunicate
with your boss in the States. A pair of animat-
ed action games adds to the excitement.
INTERACTIVE FICTION
Amazon moves along in a more linear fash-
ion than games such as Zork, which qualifies
t for the trendy heading, “interactive fiction."
This relatively new style of adventure (which
includes Deadline, Fahrenheit 451, Suspect,
Earthly Delights, and Hitchhiker's Guide ) in-
corporates some of the elements of traditional
storytelling, such as an emphasis on other
characters (besides yourself!) and a more sub-
stantial plot. Straight adventure games like
Zork, on the other hand, are more object-ori-
ented — you find and use "things” on your way
o find the treasure.
While the term “interactive fiction” has real
meaning, it’s also used somewhat loosely as a
marketing term. Infocom, for instance, calls all
its adventures “interactive fiction" to distin-
guish them from fantasy/role-playing games
(such as Wizardry) and other entertainment
software.
One good example of interactive fiction is
Zutthroats, an all-text game in which you solve
people-oriented problems as well as puzzles,
solutions to which involve objects like ropes
and keys. While preparing to dive for treasure
off two ships in the bay off Hardscrabble Is-
land, you’ll eventually discover that success
pivots around talking with the island’s citizens
and your crew T members. This gets you involved
with the characters and plot in much the same
vay you do when reading a conventional story.
A more recent work of interactive fiction,
Mindwheel is the first in a series dubbed "elec-
tronic novels.” Packaged with a book contain-
ing the first few' chapters of a story that you
complete by playing the game, Mindwheel as-
signs you the task of saving Earth from self-
destruction. This can be accomplished only by
traveling telepathically back to the beginning of
1 ivilization to find the Wheel of Wisdom. The
rip takes you through the minds of four dead
people — a rock star, a,poet, a dictator, and a
scientist — on your way to find the Cave Master
who holds the Wheel. A highly advanced parser
enables you to converse with the demons,
winged people, and other weird characters
more articulately than in any other adventure
game to date. With truly entrancing prose and
a warped sense of humor, the all text story
< ften verges on interaetive poetry.
KID STUFF
The newest kind of adventure games are
those designed for young children. They are
graphic (except for Infocom's Seastalker), and
have parsers that require less typing. Spinna-
ker's Windham Classics, for example, are
graphic adventures based on books like The
Swiss Family Robinson. A “help key" comes to
the rescue bv showing verbs and nouns that
might apply to the current problem. The
parser, wliich completes a w^ord after you type
in the first few letters, reduces the need for
typing skills, making the games suitable for
young children (or bad typists). Good sound
effects enhance game play.
Similarly, an adventure on Scholastic’s Mi-
crozine called "The Dark Tower" allow’s you to
enter single-letter commands — such as G for
get, w for walk, etc. Other adventures for
youngsters, such as Walt Disney’s Winnie the
Pooh in The Hundred Acre Wood, Sierra’s
Mickey's Space Adventure, and Scholastic’s
Talcs of Discovery, require almost no typing,
relying instead on a multiple-choice menu'. In
Cave Girl Claire, too. in which an animated
figure struggles to survive the hazards of life in
The Stone Age. actions are executed with a
single keystroke.
Stone Age or Space Age, young or old,
there's an adventure-game destination that’s
right lor you. All you need to pack is your
imagination. And the fun doesn’t have to end
come autumn — you can take an adventure va-
cation any time of vcai . «
Amazon features a
wise-cracking parrot
named Paco that rides
on your shoulders and
offers clues. King's
Quest (as shown here,
waiting for the user's
next command ) "shows
off the sharpest hi-res
an ever seen in any
kind of computer
game."
SOFTWARE
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(312) 792-1227
JUNE 1985 4 1
The Prose And The Parser
How
IN h
Games
Selby Bateman, Features Editor
f J Electronic novels, interactive fiction, all-text adventure games, living literature.
Whatever the names, the landscape of this brand of computer game is changing.
New writers and seasoned programmers are together stretching its boundaries
with refreshing approaches to plot, writing style, and game interaction. The com-
petition is intensifying.
&
a :
i I
U
i
nt
magine a wheel — a colos-
■ sal, rotating wheel into
■ which is drawn all of the
JL images of a culture: every
4 experience, every event, every
bject, every person's mind and
ody. This wheel is a vortex
hich you must try to manipu-
ate and understand.
"I hope this doesn't sound
oo fancy," says Robert Pinsky,
reaking into his own explana-
ion w r ith a slightly self-
:onscious laugh.
"It involves the idea of
striving for control and mastery,
v. d the world being so compli-
cated that every time you strive
ou're creating another system
hat becomes part of this big
! whirling thing which is every-
hing everybody's ever known
»r thought or dreamed up to
amuse themselves. Jokes and
technologies and mythologies
and religions and roads
and. ...just everything."
Pinsky pauses again, as if
considering the magnitude of
such a wheel for the first time.
He's describing the underlying
concept of a computer game he
created — Mindwheel, an all-text
adventure for the Commodore
64, Apple, Atari, IBM, and IBM-
compatible computers. The
game represents as unusual a
combination of complexities as
does Pinsky himself.
You play the game by im-
mersing yourself alternately
within the minds of four de-
ceased people: a peace activist
rock star, a monstrous dictator,
a heroic poet, and a gifted scien-
tist. All of those minds are
linked along neural pathways to
a common matrix leading to the
Wheel and a mysterious Cave
Master. You can directly address
characters, ask them questions,
and travel from mind to mind.
The humor is sophisticated, and
yet surprisingly accessible; off-
screen characters move about at
random; and Pinsky's writing
presents a rich atmosphere
within the game world itself.
How did this university ac-
ademic, a magazine poetry edi-
tor, scholar, and award-winning
poet, get involved with the
development of a commercial
computer game? Why would a
software company, Synapse,
seek out Pinsky, someone who
had never even played a text
adventure game until after he
created the concept for
COMPUTERS Gazette June 1985 39
Mindwheel ? And how did this
nonprogrammer bring his own
version of the Wheel to the
arena of a computer game?
T o understand the answers to
those questions is to appre-
ciate how interactive fiction is
evolving. Gone forever are the
days when an all-text adventure
game with simple two-word,
noun-verb command combina-
tions and a series of arbitrary
puzzles could impress computer
game fans. "Kill dragon" and
"take sword" have been re-
placed with more sophisticated
programs capable of taking full
sentences and separating the
nouns, verbs, adjectives, ad-
verbs, and direct and indirect
objects.
Most computer adventure
games are based on a story. You
may be a detective investigating
a crime, or a heroic knight in
search of a magical unicorn. You
have the freedom to make deci-
sions — moving north or south,
acting friendly or unfriendly to
characters you meet. But obsta-
cles and puzzles hinder your
progress. You may need a key
to pass through a door, a boat
to cross the river, or a map to
find your way. By persisting,
you discover the answers one at
a time to advance to the next
level of play. Ultimately, the so-
lution to the game is the solu-
tion to the final puzzle.
While an increasing number
of these games use graphic im-
ages to complement the
onscreen text, the oldest com-
puterized interactive fiction is
based on text alone. Without
having to use valuable and lim-
ited computer memory to draw
the graphics, the all-text adven-
tures have room for larger
vocabularies, more descriptions
of scenes, and more powerful
parsers — the programming
routines which break down your
English-language commands
into numbers the computer can
manipulate.
40 COMPUTE' S Gazette June 1905
Robert Pinsky, poet, professor, editor,
and author of Mindwheel, a new all-
text adventure game for the Commo-
dore 64.
But more than a year ago,
Robert Pinsky knew virtually
nothing about these distinctions
as he walked the halls of the
University of California at
Berkeley. The dark-haired poet
and professor was more likely
to drop the names of Ezra
Pound or the Bloomsbury group
of writers in his conversations
than to mention a Commodore
64 computer or the fortunes of
IBM versus Apple. As head of
the university's creative writing
program and as the poetry edi-
tor for The Kew Republic maga-
zine, Pinsky was immersed in
writing and teaching far re-
moved from :he bits and bytes
of computing;. His students may
have been staying awake past
midnight placing ZORK, but
Pinsky was cmly marginally
aware of the growing computer
adventure game field.
Enter Svmapse, a computer
software comrpany looking for a
very special Hvpe of writer to
work on a new series of interac-
tive games it would call elec-
tronic novels. These adventures
would be packaged as hardback
books with a disk in the back.
In order to puay the game, users
would have Ho learn information
from the boo>k.
"What we wanted was to
expand the imaginative realm in
text adventures beyond what it
had been," says Synapse's Rich-
ard Sanford. "Up to now we've
been looking through blinders,
through a very narrow window
in text adventures. We wanted
to deal with writers whose main
stock and trade is to expand the
narrow window on reality and
to be able to give us a rich
imaginative experience."
So the company looked for
writers who knew little or noth-
ing about computer games,
whose ideas would not reflect
the biases which might creep
into the mind of someone famil-
iar with ZORK, its cohorts of
popular adventures, and the
highly respected Infocom, Inc.,
which created and marketed the
most successful of those games.
Tell us a story, Synapse
said to Pinsky. Then together
we'll build a game.
So Pinsky sat in his office
and thought about the Wheel, a
concept he had first used in a
poem called "The Figured
Wheel." That was published in
his 1984 book of poetry. History
of my Heart, which early in
1985 won the prestigious Wil-
liam Carlos Williams Award
from the Poetry Society of
America. As he developed the
spiraling concept of Mindwheel,
Pinsky knew little or nothing of
Infocom, the cryptic acronyms
ZIL and BTZ, or two program-
mers, William Mataga and Steve
Hales.
What he would later dis-
cover is what many hardened
game players already know: that
Infocom, Inc., of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, has set the stan-
dard for quality in the field of
all-text adventures. Its plots
have been the best, its prose the
classiest, its parsers the most
powerful, and its proprietary
programming language — ZIL
( ZORK Interactive Language) —
the most accomplished. Syn-
apse, with its idea for electronic
novels, was approaching Pinsky
and other writers with a plan to
compete against Infocom in thr
same market.
“We were very conscious oi
what Infocom was up to," suvs
William Mataga, an independent
programmer who later worked
with Pinsky and programmer
Steve Hales on Mindwheel. "We
had as a goal that we had to do
everything that Infocom does,
plus one." As Pinsky created a
concept, Mataga was indepen-
dently putting the finishing
touches on the underlying pro-
gramming language BTZ, which
appropriately stands for — Better
Than Z ORK.
M any other compa-
nies have at-
tempted — and still try: —
for a slice of the interac-
tive fiction market. None
has had as much critical
and popular success with
all-text adventures as
Infocom. Software com-
panies like Bantam and
Imagic, with their Living
Literature series; Spinna-
ker, with its Windham
Classics and Telarium
(formerly Trillium)
brands; Activision; Ad-
venture International;
and many others have
all found the graphics-
and-text field more hos-
pitable when it comes to
adventures. They argue
that the future belongs to
adventure gaming which
includes increasingly so-
phisticated graphics as a
part of the mix.
» Whatever the out-
come of that argument,
everyone agrees that a
game with graphics
won't leave enough
* memory on today's 64K
or 128K computers to
permit as sophisticated a
set of vocabularies,
parsers, and underlying
programming languages.
Synapse was trying
42 COMPUTE!’* Gazette June 1985
11 in •! h 1 1 1); i T.t ■ . ii nil • , 1 1 1 1,
hv > I ii '< ••'inr, I’m r I \ ( ,, , , , , , . , j, .
\ » • I * ' I M'is h,l\ f lilt I t \)‘.| Ih',1 \
M, ught hir, iKimr .iiit 1 1 « « i ii,,
m.il 1 1 \ 111 tile M it ’th (■ lu I h , n aiu j
1 1 1 11 1 1 1 v ' \ i t ’ 1 11 t ’ s . 1 1 i ' 1 1 1 U | \ \ I M ( 1 1
b 1 1 ^ t * t I ti‘ 11 , u I v t ■ 1 1 1 1 ii t ■ i ’ , ii 1 1 1 • s
Nanifs like ILn lh.nibur\ U.un
Asimov , \rthtir ( i l.irkt
Michael Cm hton I >ougl.i> Ad
'inis, anti others atlorn iht> boxes
t>f software programs, Some of
these authors were heavilv in-
volved in the game develop-
ment and others scurcelv at all.
No matter what the qualitv tit' a
particular adventure game, all of
those writers have a hea\ v-
u right pull in the computer
game-playing community. While
I husky's credentials and success
•‘s a talented poet, teacher, and
editor are excellent, his visibility
imong computer game players
would naturally be decidedly
lower than the mass market su-
perstars listed above.
In order to advance the all-
text genre, however. Synapse
was convinced that all-star
names were not the answer. “A
lot of times you may have a
game with a [big name] in-
volved, but he only spends two
days on it, makes a few com-
ments, and then leaves and
goes off to write some-
thing else," says Mataga.
“A writer's job in the
text adventure is a lot of
work. We need a writer
who will be able to
spend the time with us
on the game, not just
someone who will make
a few suggestions on
how the game will work,
and then leave."
That sentiment is
echoed by Douglas Ad-
ams and Steve Meretzky,
who collaborated on
Infocom's text adventure
game. The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy
based on Adams' book
and radio series. (See
“Inside View" in the
April 1985 GAZETTE.)
Meretzky, developer of
the popular Planetfall,
Sorcerer, and Enchanter
Infocom games, worked
extensively with Adams
to make sure the humor
and characterization of
Hitchhiker remained
intact.
“We started off
spending a week in Bos-
ton, mapping it out,
roughing it out, and
writing bits of text," says
Adams, a British writer
whose books in the
Hitchhiker series now
number four. “Once we
got the ball /oiling, I went back
to England, and Steve and I
communicated a lot through
electronic mail. I would send
ideas and bits of text, and he
would start building it into the
game. I would map out a lot of
it broadly, and then bits of it in
detail." The collaboration con-
tinued as Meretzky flew to Lon-
don for more detailed work.
Later the two worked together
on the game once more in Bos-
ton, fine-tuning and reacting to
the suggestions of game testers.
The entire procedure took
months, but both men agree the
game is better for their mutual
involvement.
Adams was one of the first
writers to actually use the term
"electronic novel," in the origi-
nal 1977 edition of The Hitch-
hiker's Guide. "As far as I was
concerned, it was completely
imaginary," he says, laughing.
"I didn't even become computer
literate until about a year or so
ago, whereupon it suddenly
swept over me like a tidal
wave."
As Pinsky worked with
Mataga and Hales on Mind-
wheel, he came to see how his
involvement was an important
natural component of their cre-
ative process. He also became
fascinated as a writer with the
random interaction which at-
tracts so many adventure game
players.
"Once in a while, one of
these games will give you
goosebumps," he says with a
hint of awe in his voice. "A
friend played the game and said
to a character, 'You look like my
mother,' and the game character
interpreted it as a command.
She said, 'I will look the way
you want me to.' My friend got
• spooked. You hit that once in a
while now."
When Pinsky finally had an
opportunity to sit down and
play a few computer adventure
games, what bothered him was
that many of them were clever
enough but devoid of mood and
emotion. "They didn't have
much color or aroma; they
seemed flat.
"I think that the experience
of writing poems was very good
for this," he adds. "In poems,
you're exposed to just getting it
done in a small space. The more
short and vivid a message can
be, creating a narrative moment
with the smallest possible num-
ber of words, the better."
the reader. In writing a branch-
ing narrative like this, all
choices are available at any
given moment."
As a writer, Paul is in-
trigued by the game's ability to
recognize synonyms and mis-
spellings of words, translating
them accurately. He also finds
fascinating the way in which
Mataga's BTZ language permits
the game to have characters
The Hitchhiker's Guide, another all-text adventure game, is packaged in a
distinctive format by Infocom to present the player with more than just a
disk and instruction booklet.
Another writer involved
with Synapse's series of elec-
tronic novels developed feelings
similar to those of Pinsky. Jim
Paul is a 34-year-old poet
whose works have been pub-
lished in The New Yorker, The
Paris Review, and other maga-
zines, and who also has written
articles for The Washington Post
and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Currently a Stegner Fellow at
Stanford University, Paul is the
designer behind Brimstone, an
all-text adventure based on Sir
Gawain of King Arthur's Round
Table, with additional material
borrowed from Dante and Wil-
liam Blake.
"Writing on a page is a sin-
gle line of narrative. The reader
is a slave to the page," he says.
"I had to anticipate paths for
converse and situations develop
which the author never wrote.
"The computer is smart enough
so that it can generate responses
far beyond what I can do."
W ith the adventure game
market still growing rap-
idly, Infocom's Steve Meretzky
sees the early dominance of sci-
ence fiction and fantasy themes
giving way to other topics as
new writers approach interactive
fiction for the first time. "Back
during the early days of per-
sonal computers, people who
had them were the real hackers
who tended to be science fiction
fans. Therefore, most of them
wrote programs which were sci-
ence fiction or fantasy related.
44 COMPUTEI s Gazette June 1985
1
As the computer market grows,
that trend will reverse itself."
Peter Golden, another
writer new to the creation of in-
teractive fiction, designed two
graphics and text adventures for
Imagic/Bantam, /, Damiano,
based on R. A. MacAvoy's
Damiano fantasy trilogy; and
Sherlock Holmes: Another Bow,
both currently available only on
IBM and Apple computers.
Although he previously had
no involvement with computers,
Golden is now impressed by the
need within adventure games
for a writer's knowledge of
structure, word usage, descrip-
tive techniques, and style in or-
der to bring the program to life.
It's a challenge he likes. "What
compels someone to turn a page
in a book is the same thing that
compels an interactive fiction
player to hit the return key. You
have to get someone to turn the
P a g<?.
Golden's involvement with
the Holmes adventure quickly
convinced him of the versatility
players will see in future all-text
formats. Another Bow takes place
aboard a ship following World
War I. Sherlock Holmes and his
friend, Watson, must solve six
different mysteries. In the
course of the story, they meet
such famous figures as Thomas
Edison, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude
Stein, and others. Golden chose
Holmes, he says, because "it
gave him a chance to be the
most literary, to play with his-
tory, with style, and with the
idea of writing dialogue."
Golden also played with differ-
ent speech patterns, from South-
erners to Europeans, and with
the idea of voice as used by dif-
ferent characters.
The conclusion Golden
draws from his recent involve-
ment is identical to that of
Pinsky and Jim Paul: Writers
will increasingly involve them-
selves in interactive fiction,
complementing the talents
which programmers bring to the
genre. And as computer mem-
ory capacities rise from 64K and
128K to 512K and higher, the
text adventure game will enter
realms scarcely imagined today,
giving writers even more
latitude.
"We're looking out to a
very exciting void," says Pinsky.
"We don't know what people's
imaginations are going to do
with this tool. I can certainly see
a whole new level of inter-
activity, actually putting a part
of my dream life or fantasy life
or emotional life into the
game." 0
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46 COMPUTER'S Gazette June 1985
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By Jane Ferrell
Examiner staff writer
a
T HE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE to the Gal-
axy" began as a radio program in En-
gland in the late 70s, evolved into
three books, a British television series,
two records and a stage show.
In the last eight years, “Hitchhiker's” small science-fic-
tion cult following has grown into an audience of millions.
Seven million copies of the original “Hitchhiker,” “The
Restaurant at the End of the Universe” and “Life, the
Universe and Everything” have been sold world-wide. And
now, says author Douglas Adams, “So Long, and Thanks
for All the Fish" (Harmony Books), the fourth book in the
“Hitchhiker’s" trilogy — yes, he says, it remains a trilogy —
is hitting the bookstores. (By the way, “So long, and thanks
Jot all the fish," were the last words of the dolphins as they
'.left Earth before its destruction in the first book.)
As much as a writer hates to engage in cliches, this one
seems necessary: DONT PANIC. (Why would you? Be-
cause “Hitchhiker’s” aficionados would panic if they
thought the story would ever end.) There’s more. The latest
form in which you'll find “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy" is a home computer game.
' This is not a shoot-down-the-Vogons computer game,
this is interactive fiction, entertainment software in which
i short novel is programmed onto a computer disk.
1 it's difficult to describe how much fun interactive
fiction can be, especially when the phrase, “interactive
fiction,” like most computer terms, sounds so boring. It’s
(tore than a crossword puzzle (it is a puzzle you can work
out by yourself), but less than a scavenger hunt (You get
ilues to the next move, but you don’t move around, except
*hen you jump up with Joy at having figured out the next
move, or beat your computer with frustration, because you
eant). You become a story’s main character.
For those of you who haven’t tried interactive fiction,
•this is how it works The first lines of The Hitchhiker’s
•Guide to the Galaxy” that appear on a computer are:
■ You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round
your head Or at least it would be if you could see it which
you cant It is pitch black.
f You get going with the story by typing English-lan-
guage commands —“TURN ON THE LIGHT,'' for example
— to which the program responds: “Good start to the day.
Pity it's going to be the worst one of your life. The light is
nowon
Your computer continues by telling you — in Adams’
subtle wit and jaunty style — that you are Arthur Dent,
shortly to become one of the last two surviving Earthlings.
You wake up one morning in your home in England to
find that your house, as well as the planet, are scheduled
for destruction. If you play correctly, using the clues the
computer game gives you to make your next move, you
end up on a Vogon Constructor spaceship with your friend
You type a command —
'TURN ON THE LIGHT,’
for example — to which
the computer responds:
'Good start to the day.
Pity it’s going to be the
worst one of your life.
The light is now on. ’
Ford Prefect. If you don’t, you wind up dead. You also get a
low score to give you impetus to try again, so you can take a
trip through space with Prefect, a wanderer of the uni-
verse who’s gathering information for the Hitchhiker's
Guide to the galaxy, a thin portable computer. The guide
has more information about the universe than any other
guide, although it is not always accurate.
“Yes and no,” answered Adams when asked if the
computer game closely follows the story line of the book.
“Probably more no than yes. It was important that it was
going to be equally difficult and equally accessible for
people who haven't read the book, as well as those who
have." It differs from the book as Rosencrantz and Guil-
denstern differ from Hamlet, he said, the computer game
allows diversions into subplots and minor characters.
Adams propelled Hitchhiker into its metamorphosis as
a computer game after meeting Christopher Cerf (coau-
thor of The Experts Speak"). Cerf brought Adams togeth-
er with the principals of lnfocom, a five-year-old Cam-
bridge, Mass., company that markets interactive fiction.
“1 always liked what lnfocom was doing,” said Adams,
who recently became a computer buff and owns six com-
puters (his favorite is an Apple Macintosh). Their games
were more intelligent than shooting down aliens.”
He began a seven-month collaboration with Steven
Meretzky, one of lnfocom ’s computer programmer-writers
and author of “Planetfall,” an lnfocom game. Hitchhiker
was released about a month ago and is on the best-seller list
of computer games.
“The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” costs about
$39.95 ($34.95 for Atari, Commodore 64 and Color Com-
puter), and comes with:
• peril sensitive sunglasses — they darken at the first
hint of danger, thus shielding the wearer from seeing
anything alarming:
• a Don’t Panic button, the Hitchhiker's slogan;
• a piece of fluff — a deadly poison on Bodega Minor,
froWCCoCb t
the diet staple of Frazelon V, the unit of currency on the
moons of the Blurfoid system, and the major crop of th<
laundry supplies planet. Blast us ni;
• the destruct orders for Arthur Dent's house and th<
Earth (it was in the way of a hyperspace freeway and wa
destroyed by Vogons).
The powers-that-be at lnfocom decided not to include t
towel in the package, even though, according to the Hitch
hiker's Guide, a towel is the most useful thing (besides th>
Guide) a galactic hitchhiker can have. Its uses includ
travel, combat, communications, protection from the elt
ments, hand-doing and reassurance.
"We couldn’t find a towel for less than $5," said Meret
ky. “It was too expensive to include in the package. An<
besides, from our marketing studies, we found that almos
all people already owned a towel.”
It takes about 50 hours of playing time to get throug
Hitchhiker, said Meretzky. Some spots throw players int
foot-stomping spasms of frustration. In those cases, Infc
com offers a hint booklet, complete with invisible ink an>
latent image marker to make the clues appear, for $8.
Adams, 32, began his comedic flights of fancy at Th
Footlights Club, which he joined when he was at Can
bridge University in his native England. He collaborate
with many of the writers who later created “Monty Pj
thon's Flying Circus" and “Not the Nine O’clock News.” H.
wrote a number of episodes for “Dr. Who,” whe scieno
fiction series that is broadcast on PBS in the United States
In 1976, he was broke, and took a job as a bodyguard (he
6-foot-5) for a royal Arabian family. It was then he bega;
writing episodes of “Hitchhiker” for the BBC.
Adams, who has lived with “Hitchhiker" and all it
forms for eight years now, says he tires of it sometimes, be
putting the story into another form keeps him intereste
in the tale The book contains imaginative scenes of th
universe, seemingly based on some deep knowledge, bu
partly extrapolated from information Adams gleane
from his college courses.
“I led a pretty dilettante college career,” said Adam
“You pick up odd snippets of information useful for a lau
date. The Pythons (the writers for “Monty Python”) are lik
that. They may make jokes about Proust, and they make
appear as though they really know something, but it's on)
because they know the name What they know aboi
Proust you could list on the fingers of one elbow.”
If you finish the "Hitchhiker" computer game anc
begin to think that's all there is — DONT PANIC.
Because of the immediate success of “Hitchhiker,” Ad
a ms and lnfocom are considering turning the other books
in the trilogy into interactive fiction.
That will happen probably sometime after Adams fin
ishes the movie. He’s been working on a screenplay of The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,” which will go into
production next year, and will be directed by “Gbcstbus-
ters” director Ivan Reitman.
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Though some authors and stars are lending only their names to enter-
tainment software, others are actively contributing to the game's
design. Here's a look at what’s happening.
^fhe Trillium series, produc
J by a division of Spinnak
Software, is one of the bt^
examples of this trend. It's a s<-
ries of interactive adventure
games for the Commodore 64
and Apple II-series computers
based on novels by well-knc.v.
science fiction authors.
In each of the games, the
his
de<
ant
You see it practically every time
you flip through a magazine or
turn on the television. Fame
lending its name to the cause of
advertising. Tennis players and
movie stars and race-car drivers
hawking shampoo and sports
equipment and clothing lines.
We've seen the same thing
happen with microcomputers,
famous faces and voices telling
us which one to buy. Some
entertainment software publish-
ers are taking it a step farther;
instead of promoting a package,
the personality is a major part
of the software, either as one of
the game's characters, or even
its designer.
3fl COMWTI February 1985
player takes the role
of the novel's main
character, encountering
his or her problems and making
decisions. Full-color graphics
and a sophisticated parser that
understands several hundred
words make the games easy to
play A hint book and word list
are included in each package.
In late 1983, Spinnaker ap-
proached writer Michael Cnch-
~h FF LEVEL ■
ton, thinking that some of his
works might lend themselves
well to adventure games. He
surprised them. He was just
completing work on an adven-
ture game of his own. I ney
came to acquire book rights and
ended up taking a finished
game/' says Crichton.
Crichton, author of The An-
dromeda Strain and Congo , and
writer/director of many science
fiction films, was very interested
in interactive fiction. He had
been asked to do some creative
work using laser disks but de-
clined, believing that they
couldn't be accessed in a sutti-
ciently sophisticated fashion.
Books, breakers, bad guys, and
Bruce: Personalities and trends
find a place in computer games.
Pictured from left to right are Spinnaker; Creative Software's
Fahrenheit 451, part of the Trillium se J Captation of the comic strip
Break Street; Spy vs. Spy. : and the join, project of
from MAD magazine; Bruce Lee from £ , Gui ' de to the Galaxy.
Infocom and author Douglas Adams. A H.tcnniK
f
l
He had hired programmer
Steve Warrady in 1982 to help
translate an original story into
Apple assembly language. The
result was Amazon, a graphics
and text adventure in which the
player is an agent for NSRT, a
high-tech research firm. The
player must travel to the Ama-
zon and recover valuable emer-
alds hidden in the Lost City of
Chak, with the help of a
friendly (and often sarcastic)
bird named Paco.
Fahrenheit 451, another
game in the Trillium series, is a
sequel to Ray Bradbury's book
of the same name. As Guy
Montag, the player lives in a fu-
ture totalitarian society whose
government is committed to
controlling the populace by de-
stroying all literature. Montag's
mission is to restore to the
world the freedom it once had.
Rendezvous With Rama is
based on the Arthur C. Clarke
novel. The player, as captain of
a small scout spaceship which
has just encountered an alien
starship hurtling into the solar
system, must explore it and try
to make contact with alien intel-
ligence. (Clarke wrote a new
ending to be used in the game.)
The fantasy Dragonworld,
by Byron Preiss and Michael
Reaves, sends the player on a
journey to rescue The Last
Dragon from the Duke of
Darkness.
And here's an interesting
twist: Science fiction writer Alan
Dean Foster wrote a novel based
on the fantasy game Shadowkeep.
The player's task is to recapture
the Shadowkeep, with its mazes
and monsters, and to free the
good wizard Nacomedon. Up to
nine characters may be chosen
by the player while exploring
the keep. Designed as an inter-
active adventure, the game in-
corporates many aspects of
role-playing fantasy software.
Who ya gonna call?
Spinnaker's Trillium series, pictured
from left to right, top row:
Rendezvous With Rama, Amazon,
Shadowkeep, and Dragonworld.
In this scene from Ghostbusters, a
ghost is being sucked up by a ghost
vacuum as the player drives from one
building to another.
^oftware designer David
^ \ Crane, a cofounder of
vj Activision, went to see the
movie Ghostbusters on the rec-
ommendation of a friend. “I
think I may have enjoyed it a
lot more than some people be-
cause it was sprung on me," he
says. "From the first special ef-
fect, you knew that there was
something here that wasn't just
stand-up comedy."
Two days after he saw the
movie, someone at Activision
asked if he'd like to write a
computer game based on the
movie. He took a day to think
about it. "To do justice to any
game takes no less than 500
hours of my time, and I was go-
ing to get married in six weeks."
His decision to do it was
based partly on the fact that he
had already been working on
the game without knowing it.
For a couple of months, Crane
had been trying to develop a
game that had something to do
with equipping a car and driv-
ing it around city streets, but it
was going nowhere. "It was a
game concept in search of a
theme," he says.
And the Ghostbusters theme
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40 COMPUTE February 1985
■» ■
fit perfectly. The theme song
from the movie plays through-
out the game (you can sing
along by following the bouncing
ball at the game's opening) as
you buy a car and outfit it with
equipment like ghost bait (to
trap the marshmallow man) and
a ghost vacuum (to suck up
ghosts as you drive through the
streets of the city). Buildings
flashing red are ghost-ridden,
and it's your job to maneuver
each ghost into a ghost trap
before he "slimes” you. The •
game is won when you've cap-
tured enough ghosts to enter
Zuul.
"It's an amazing coin-
cidence that what I was doing
followed the script of the movie.
I was able to put the theme and
game together in such a way
that I could have what's really
an original game concept that
embodied the spirit of the movie."
here were no coincidences
I involved in the develop-
ment of Infocom's com-
puter game version of A
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
just a lot of mutual admiration.
"Most people at Infocom were
Hitchhiker's fans, and Douglas
Adams [author of the book] was
an Infocom game player," says
Steve Meretzky.
A Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy is the story of Arthur
Dent, an ordinary human being
who is thrust into some rather
extraordinary circumstances.
After being told by Ford Prefect
(an alien in disguise) that the
earth is about to be destroyed,
he hitches a ride on a Volgon
spaceship, where he is tortured
by having poetry read to him.
Surviving that, he is ejected into
space, and is rescued by the
Heart of Gold, another space-
ship, and brought to the planet
Magrathea. Improbable things
continue to happen as the zany
plot unfolds.
Meretzky, a program de-
signer for Infocom, and Adams
worked together to translate the
book's themes, characters, and
humor into a text adventure.
"The game starts out following
the book pretty closely, up to
your arrival on the Volgon
ship," he says. "From that
point, until you get to the Heart
of Gold, the general story line is
pretty similar, but a lot of the
more specific things that happen
aren't the same things that hap-
pen in the book.
"By the time you get to the
Heart of Gold, the story diverges
almost completely from the
story line of the book. But there
are a number of things that are
just sort of alluded to in the
book that are gone into in much
more detail in the game."
Adams, whose home is in
England, visited Meretzky at
Infocom for about a week to
map out the initial design of the
Datasoft's The Dallas Quest and four from Epyx: Barbie, 9 To 5 Typing,
Breakdance, and GI Joe.
42 COM W February 1985
game. They found that their cre-
ative styles differed. Meretzky,
who had previously designed
Planetfall and Sorcerer for
Infocom, usually came up with
an overall concept for a game,
then went back and filled in de- =
tails. Adams did it the opposite *
way — details first. z
So they kept in constant ;
contact via electronic mail as l
Meretzky was programming,
then met again in England for ,
some intense final sessions
("We basically holed ourselves :
up in a country inn and didn't ^
come out until we had finished " 7
Meretzky found a differenc i
kind of challenge in program-
ming a game whose story line
had basically been written by
someone else. "In some ways
it's easier, and in some ways it's
harder," he says. "It's easier be-
cause you have some constraint
on the universe you're going tc
be designing, and on the charac-
ters you're going to be using,
and a lot of the situations, and
you don't have to come up with -
as many ideas.
"But on the other hand,
there's more of a challenge be-
cause you want to take advan- .
tage of the features of an
interactive game, and you don't
want it to be just a translation
of the book, because the book is
necessarily linear. You want to
take advantage of the features
and the power of the computer
to do something different."
BRITAIN’S BIGGEST MICROCOMPUTER MAGAZINE
DON’T PANIC!
‘Hitch-hikerV arrives on disk
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Hitch-hiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy
Are you searching for the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything ? Forget it[
Tnnv Hetherinaton has found it in Infocom's humorous and impressive
adaptation of Douglas Adams' Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
In 1978 a radio series was broadcast on
Radio 4 called The Hitch-hiker's Guide
to the Galaxy. There then followed a
second series and a book of the same
name. Then a second book was written
which was followed by another. Mean-
while it had become a television series
and also a stage play. Now it's a
computer game.
It is, however, unlike any other
computer game that I have played.
Published by the American software
house Infocom, The Hitch-hiker'sGuide
to the Galaxy has all the trademarks of
the excellent interactive fiction series,
but there is a slight difference.
The game disk is accompanied by the
demolition orders for your home and
planet, a 'Don't Panic' badge, a piece of
fluff, a small polythene bag (with which
to attack microscopic space fleets) and
the exceedingly useful peril-sensitive
sunglasses — which you naturally
cannot see through.
Adams is said to have enjoyed a
number of Infocom's adventures and
thought it would be a good idea to do
one based on Hitch-hiker's. He initially
contacted the company via a bulletin
board and further discussions followed
in a series of English pubs (which was
cheaper, although response time may
have been slower) before Steve Meret-
sky was given the job of programming
(Steve had previously written the In-
focom adventures Planetfall and
Sorcerer).
The resulting game is a curious mix of
the humour and imagination of Doug-
las Adams and the depth and quality of
an Infocom adventure. It is also a
difficult adventure to solve.
Strategy
As with the other Infocom adventures
Hitch-hiker's Guide consists of a series
of logical problems which form the plot
of a story in which you are the leading
character. Your degree of success in
tackling these problems determines the
consequent route of the story.
You play the part of Arthur Dent and
awaken one morning in a darkened
room to discover that you have a
dreadful hangover. On clambering out
of bed and taking an aspirin you begin
to feel slightly better: the irony of your
situation is that this day will turn out to
be the worst day of your life. In the next
half hour your house is due to be
demolished by a bulldozer (because it's
simply in the way) and the Earth is
scheduled to be destroyed by a Vogon
constructor fleet to make way for a
hyperspace bypass.
Just in time you and your friend, Ford
Prefect, whom you always thought was
from Guildford but is actually from a
small planet near Betelgeuse, hitch a lift
on the Vogon spaceship and the adven-
ture continues.
If you've seen any of the previous
versions of Hitch-hiker's and are now
assuming that the game has the same
plot and solution, don't. You're in for
quite a surprise.
Although the characters are the
same, and you'll come across similar
creatures, places and situations, the
difference is that you have to take a
leading role rather than be lead through
the action. A good comparison is The
Hobbit by Melbourne House, wherein
you play the part of Bilbo who is helped
and lead through the story but takes the
leading role in the game.
Therefore, it's up to you to find the
answers to the obstacles which are
placed in your way: you do, however,
have some help in the dubious form of
the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
This is an electronic book that you can
consult about many things — but don't
be too surprised if the editor for the
section you require was out at lunch
when the guide was compiled. As
already stated the problems which you
have to solve are logical and have
logical solutions— but only if you apply
the rather strange logic that exists in
Hitch-hiker's.
To illustrate: the problem of getting a
babel fish out of the babel fish dispen-
ser. In the book and radio series Ford
merely pops one into your ear but in the
game you're not so lucky. After consult-
ing the guide you realise that putting a
babel fish in your ear is an excellent idea
as it will allow you to understand and be
understood by anyone or anything in
the galaxy.
Consequently you are determined to
get one so you press the button on the
dispenser, but the fish shoots out the
slot across the room andthrough a hole
in the wall. You notice that there's a
hook above the hole, so you hang your
dressing gown on the hook in order to
block the hole, and try again. But this
time the fish hits the gown and falls
down a drain. Not to be defeated in your
objective you cover it with a towel.
However, when the next fish lands on
the towel, before you've had time to do
anything, a cleaning robot charges in,
picks up the fish and disappears
through a robot panel near the floor.
After some frantic hair-pulling you
borrow Ford's satchel and place it in
front of the panel and confidently
depress the button.
Unfortunately, your lap of honour is
interrupted by the following message:
a single babel fish shoots out the slot. It
sails across the room and hits the
dressing gown. The fish slides down
the sleeve of the gown and falls to the
floor, landing on the towel. A split-
13SFCW
Illustration by Andrew Farley
second later, a tiny cleaning robot
whizzes across the floor, grabs the fish,
and continues its breakneck pace to-
wards a tiny robot panel at the base of
the wall. The robot ploughs into the
satchel, sending the babel fish flying
through the air in a graceful arc. A small
upper-half-of-the-room cleaning robot
catches the babel fish and exits.
Don’t be surprised if your computer
acts strangely. At one stage I was
informed that there was an exit to port
but when I tried it, I was told that I
couldn't go that way. In frustration I
typed 'starboard' but was told that I
could and had gone port and that it had
lied before!
And don't be too easily deterred:
your progress through the game will
undoubtedly improve as you tune into
the game's 'brand of logic', a state
which I only achieved half-way through
the third sleepness night spent hitch-
hiking.
To help you get there, here's a brief
description of some of the characters
and creatures in Hitch-hiker's.
Ford Prefect is a researcher for the
guide but unfortunately stayed on earth
slightly longerthan intended (sixyears)
during which time he updated the
guide's entry about earth from 'harm-
less' to 'mostly harmless'. For some
reason beyond his apprehension he
saved you, Arthur Dent, from the
earth's extinction but then recovered
his senses.
Together you are thrown into space
by the Vogons where, just before you
expire, you are picked up by the
Improbability drive propelled space-
ship,^ 'Heart of Gold'. The new owner
of this ship is Zaphod Breeblebox
whom you once saw looking normal at
a party, but now he has two heads. He is
also the president of the galaxy for
which he got himself elected with the
sole object of stealing the new Heart of
Gold.
On board ship you meet Trillian,
whom you previously knew as Tricia
MacMillian and first met at the same
party. This is an incredibly improbable
situation but, after all, the Heart of Gold
is driven by the Improbability Drive.
The ship is also populated by pro-
ducts of the Sirius Cybernetics Corpora-
tion whose attempts to install Genuine
People Personalities into machinery
has unhappily resulted in Marvin the
paranoid robot and an overprotective
computer called 'Eddie'.
During your adventures you will also
meet the Vogon captain who is green
and blubbery and recites poetry
(aaagh!), a warlike alien wearing black-
jewelled battle shorts, and the incred-
ibly stupid but equally dangerous and
ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal. This
incredibly stupid monster thinks that if
you can't see it, it can't see you!
If you try something a little silly
(which could be the answer, so it's
always worth a try), it doesn't respond
with the all-too-usual 'You can't do
that.' Instead it either gives you a
helpful error message or passes a
comment which can rangefrom 'You're
letting things get to you too much, try
and relax' through to 'Are you sure
you're allowed to be playing with this
computer?'
Well, how do you solve the problems
in Hitch-hikers 7 Here are a few tips that
I've gleaned from the game.
Once you have tuned into the game's
peculiar logic, you should ensure that
you read everything carefully (includ-
ing this review). Every word and object
in Hitch-hiker's are there fora reason-
even if the reason is only to confuse
you. Also you should consult the guide
about anything and everything as it
contains some important hints. Be
prepared to try anything no matter how
dangerous or silly it may at first seem;
but before you do, use the game's save
facility so that you can restore it if things
don't turn out too well.
Finally, don't assume for one
moment that the game is the same as
the book or radio series; even your
main objective is different.
Prices and availability
The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is
available on disk for numerous
machines including the IBM PC (this
was the version used for the review
copy), Apple II, Macintosh, DEC Rain-
bow, HP150 and 110, Commodore 64
and Atari. Most versions cost £34.50
with the last two being slightly cheaper
at £30.20.
Documentation
The guide is in a class of its own and
even contains footnotes to its entries.
These, of course, can be read and
usually contradict what the guide has
just told you. Just for fun I decided to
read through the footnotes. When I
came to footnote 10 the computer
responded with: 'Isn't it fun reading
through the footnotes?'
Conclusion
The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is
the first Infocom adventure to have a
strong outside influence in the shape of
Douglas Adams. This has undoubtedly
improved an already impressive format
and produced a genuinely funny and
challenging game. Infocom classes
Hitch-hiker's as a Standard Level game
but it's hard Standard and more difficult
to solve than some of the company's
Advanced material. *
There will be two groups of people
who will particularly relish this game:
the 'Hitch-hikers' for whom this will be
their first Infocom adventure; and the
Infocom adventurers who will be
introduced to the humour of Adams.
Those lucky people who already know
both won't be disappointed.
Last but not least, the Washington
Post once said: 'If it's 2am it must be
Infocom.' On the experience of the last
few days I'd like to add: 'If it's 4am it
must be Hitch-hiker's.
UK distributors include Softsel on (01
844 2040. mm
PCW137
Wilderness
best-seller of the same name. Secret agent
John Preston, the only man who can save
the world from nuclear winter, ventures
forth to catch spies, nab defectors, solve
murders, and, ultimately, stop an atomic
bomb from exploding.
Players familiar with parser-driven
games (in which commands are typed) will
find the play mechanics of this game dra-
matically different. You enter a command
by pointing the cursor at an icon (a pictori-
al symbol) that corresponds to the desired
action. The resulting rapid interaction pro-
vides the same breathless quality that
made the novel such a page-turner.
HACKER
Activision, by Steve Cartwright; Atari $25,
C-64 $30, Apple II $40
If you’re bored with the slow progress of
most adventure games (and all that typ-
ing), this game, with its menu options and
joystick control, offers something com-
pletely different.
To launch you on your way, an unex-
plained glitch throws you into a secret
computer network where unknown forces
are putting together a potentially cata-
strophic experiment. Your mission is to
travel a network of tunnels via robot scout,
negotiate with spies, and piece together a
shredded document that will help stop the
experiment before it begins. Using a joy-
stick to operate the robot and the keyboard
for other actions, the player must make
note of every shred of data he finds to
learn the secret before the bad guys take
over the world.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
Infocom, by Douglas Adams and Steven
Meretsky; most systems $35-$40
This all-text adventure, based on Douglas
Adams’s science-fiction romp and co-writ-
ten by Adams himself, is the most popular
and the most controversial interactive fic-
tion program of 1985. Fans of Adams’s off-
the-wall humor laud the game for
capturing the book’s zany quality, while
the quirkiness— and unsolvability— of
• some of the game’s puzzles infuriates oth-
er players. The unsolvable puzzles are few,
however, and do not interfere with overall
playability.
Like the book, the game starts as the
mild-mannered Arthur Dent finds out that
the earth is about to be destroyed to make
way for an intergalactic highway. But the
adventure diverges significantly as the
plot unfolds, and knowledge of the novel is
not a prerequisite. The game boasts the
most hapless hero and some of the most
fascinatingly bizarre aliens ever collected
in one adventure. (April 1985)
PHANTASIE
Strategic Simulations, by Winston Douglas
Wood; C-64. Apple II $40
There are dangers both above and below
ground in this multiple-character role-play-
ing fantasy adventure. The player chooses
a party of six characters, some human,
some not, and assigns various qualities to
each, including the ability to learn and cast
spells. Before setting out in search of the
nine rings that will end the reign of the
Dark Lord, the characters are equipped
with the player’s choice of a hundred dif-
ferent weapons and armors, and may be
taught any of 54 spells. Once on the road,
the search party may find treasures or
monsters, fresh supplies or dungeons.
The dungeon graphics — a maze of tun-
nels viewed from above and revealed a lit-
tle at a time — are stored on the flip side of
the disk, leaving plenty of disk memory for
other aspects of the game (and for saving
games in progress). This is an exceptional-
ly well planned and executed game in ev-
ery detail.
SHERLOCK HOLMES IN
“ANOTHER BOW”
Bantam, by Peter Golden: Apple II, IBM,
Macintosh $40. C-64 $35
While sailing aboard a luxury cruise ship
just after World War I, Holmes must solve
six baffling cases by interviewing such lu-
minaries as Edison. Picasso, Henry Ford,
Baron de Rothschild, Louis Armstrong,
Gertrude Stein. Lady Astor, and, of course,
his trusted friend John Watson, M.D.
This is a parser-driven (keyboard-entry)
mystery adventure with original and ex-
tremely effective graphics. Drawn like pe-
riod-style woodcuts, the illustrations give
the game a uniquely appropriate and be-
lievable setting for the world’s greatest de-
tective and his forensic miracles. Watson's
comments to Holmes, even when the detec-
tive (i.e., the player) is being obtuse, are re-
markable in capturing the distinctive
flavor of the Conan Doyle stories.
SUSPECT
Infocom, by Dave Leblinjf; most systems
$35- $40
Like Infocom's first two all-text whodunits
(Deadline and Witness), Suspect features
breezy, evocative writing and a convoluted
plot. Your character, a reporter, has been
invited to a Halloween bash hosted by a
friend, Veronica Ashcroft Wellman, at her
plush estate. During the party she is stran-
gled, and you find yourself the prime sus-
pect. You have only a few hours (which
elapse roughly at the rate of one minute
for each command you enter) to find the
true murderer by searching the house for
clues and interviewing the guests. The
trouble is, most of the guests are wearing
Halloween costumes that make it hard to
tell who’s who, and the murderer, of
course, plays fast and loose with the truth.
This “advanced level’’ game, by the co-
creator of the classic Zork trilogy, is a su-
preme test for armchair sleuths.
THE TRACER SANCTION
Activision, by Interplay; C-64 $30
The interstellar criminal known as The
Wing is at large somewhere in the galaxy,
and you are assigned to find him and bring
him to justice. You start on the planet
Mongo with just enough fuel to get to the
nearest planet. There you must find a way
to buy more fuel to continue on to the next
planet. As you move from planet to planet,
learning more about your quarry, you
must repeatedly solve the problem of refu-
eling your spacecraft.
This game features beautiful graphics
with many animated details, a witty, well-
written text, and a choice of endings, re-
quiring the player to make a ticklish moral
decision concerning the fate of The Wing.
Commands are entered via the keyboard
as usual, but in a benevolent gesture that
will be appreciated by one-finger typists,
most repeated commands (such as GET. ex-
amine. open. TALK, and others, plus all di-
rections) may be entered with a single
key-press.
The puzzles are tricky, but solvable
through logic and common sense. Since
making a mistake will often end the game,
we advise you to save game often.
WILDERNESS
Electric Transit, by Wesley Huntress and
Charles Kuhlhase; Apple II $50
Although classifiable as an adventure
game, this one is like no other. Your plane
has crashed in the mountains, and by using
various survival techniques you must lo-
cate an outpost and make your way there
without dying of exposure or being eaten
by wild animals. The program is accompa-
nied by a 115-page book full of advice on
how to find food in the wild and make sure
it’s safe to eat, how to find or make shel-
ter, how to use a compass and navigate by
the sun and stars, and hundreds of other
lifesaving tidbits.
The program keeps track of food and
other supplies, and constantly monitors
your body systems and the outside temper-
ature. You can move around for a 360°
view, and a special on-screen topological
map helps you plot your best route.
Some players may consider this more a
survival tutorial than a game, and in fact
no fantastic scenes, freaky aliens, snappy
wisecracks, or artificial problems spice the
play. But those looking for a serious life-
like challenge will find Wilderness an en-
joyable experience.
GAMES DECEMBER 1985 51
I/WC
EL PASO, TX.
HERALD-POST
D. 35,000
EL PASO METROPOLITAN AREA
JAN 4 »98o
firm. The firm is interested, so Manilow
plans to continue writing.
By Michelle Martin
Herald-Post entertainment reporter
B arry Manilow was ready to take a
chance again.
After 25 consecutive hits on the pop
music charts, Manilow tried something
different. He made an original jazz album, “2
a.m. Paradise Cafe,” with jazz greats Gerry
Mulligan, Mundell Lowe, Bill Mays, George
Duvivier, the late Shelly Manne, Sarah
Vaughan and Mel Tonne.
Manilow will be appearing at 8 p.m.
Tuesday at the Pan American Center in Las
Cruces.
“ 'Paradise Cafe’ was an enormous thrill
for me because I took a chance,” Manilow
said in a telephone interview from New
Orleans. The album went gold two weeks
after it was released.
Nearly two years ago, after Manilow’s tour
for his 7< Greatest Hits II album,” Manilow
retreated to his Bel Air, Calif., home. “This
vacation is probably the most productive I've
ever had,” he said.
While on vacation, he began playing
different kinds of tunes on the piano — the
kind you hear late at night in a nightclub.
Before then, his. tunes were the kind you
hear on many radio stations, commercials
and movie soundtracks — songs like
“Mandy,” “I Write the Songs, “Read ’Em
and Weep,” “Ready to Take a Chance
Again,” from the movie “Foul Play” or
“State Farm Is There" from the commercial
promoting State Farm insurance.
Then he decided to write jazz songs for
an album — something he had wanted to
do for a long time.
He wrote the music and his regular
songwriters wrote the bluesy lyrics. He hired
some of the best jazz musicians around to
support the work: Mulligan on saxophone,
Lowe on guitar, Mays on keyboards, Duvivier
on bass and Manne on percussion.
Torme and Vaughan sang duets with him.
The musicians spent about two days
rehearsing, and songs were recorded during
those rehearsal periods, Manilow said. On the
third day, he told everyone that he wanted to
put the songs in order.
They all started playing, one song after
another. Manilow had the tape recorder on,
but the musicians never stopped between the
songs. One tune flowed into another. The
album was the live taping of that unexpected
session, he said.
“I didn’t plan on doing it that way.
Forty-eight minutes later, it was done. It ..
felt very comfortable to do,” he said.
Vaughan’s voice was later dubbed onto the
record.
The success of “2 a.m. Paradise Cafe” was
surprising, he said. Now he plans to do a
similar album.
But he isn’t stopping there. Manilow, 38,
has several other things cooking. First off,
he plans to be acting in a movie called
“Copacabana,” named after his famous song.
Filming on the TV movie is set for March.
“I play Tony. We still haven’t cast Lola yet.”
The movie has the same storyline as the song
— two men fight over Lola, a dancer at the
Copacabana in Cuba.
The movie will be set in Cuba, but filmed
in New York and Miami, Manilow said. “It’s
exciting. It’s CBS' first movie musical ever.”
Manilow has been taking acting lessons for
four years and said he is excited to begin
putting them to use.
In addition, Manilow has been named
National Chairman for Youth and
Voluntarism for the United Way. “I give a
lot of free tickets to concerts.” he said, and
he wrote a song, “One Voice,” for the United
Way.
Another project Manilow is involved in is
writing a book. He wrote several pages of his
autobiography and gave it to a publishing
“1 discovered a word processor. I love it
better than my piano,” he said, laughing.
“I’m glued to my computer. I’m hooked. I
just found this new game caUecLHitchhiker
Guide to the Galaxy,” he said, laughing some
more.
He isn’t hpoked enough to begin writing
music on his computer, however. “My music
is something else. I like writing songs the old
fashioned way on my piano.”
That’s not all. Now he is involved in a
suit to kick Raquel Welch and her husband
out of his New York City condominium.
Welch has been renting the condo two to
three years, he said. She wants to buy it,
“but she can’t afford it,” he added. He didn’t
reveal the price.
The condo “is like my absolute fant&sy.
It’s the greatest apartment you’ve ever seen
in your life. It’s the best bachelor’s
apartment.
“It’s so annoying” that Welch doesn’t want
to leave the apartment, he said. “I really
hate to get legal.” Her lease was up in
September.
Meanwhile, Manilow is going to finish his
tour so he can prepare for the “Copacabana”
filming. “This show is really good. It’s been
a long time. It’s getting better every night. I
can’t wait to get on the stage. The band is so
hot”
Barry Manilow will be appearing at 8 p.m.
Tuesday in the Pan American Center. Tickets
are 815 and $12.50, $1 more at Ticketm aster.
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Each program must be
simple for the user to |
-handle, and have depth off
playing content so users j.
will play the games again
and again.
Douglas Adams (above, left), co-designer
of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and
Steve Meretzky are two of the software
authors who have helped put Infocom
on the front line of the “Softsel Hot List.”
The bookish Zork trilogy is so tough, hint
booklets are now available - in invisible
ink, but players get decoder pens.
After spectacular beginnings just three
or four years ago, many of the entertain-
ment software manufacturers ran into
hard, hard times. The last year has been
one of revamping and switching tactics
for several companies; those who fore-
cast the direction of the games market are
still racking up figures in the profit col-
umn. Jim McCullaugh, who follows the
trends as editor of the retail trade publi-
cation, Home Computer and Software
Merchandising, likened the software en-
tertainment industry to the record busi-
ness. Noting that beyond the first hit rec-
ord there must be new ones coming up
the charts as the hit falls, he commented
that this was the one key mistake many
software companies made. Another was
bringing out an army of clones resem-
bling the genuine hits such as Pac-Man
and Donkey Kong.
The most successful companies do not
follow the pack. Marc S. Blank, vice
president of Infocom, which had nine
games out of the top 20 on one recent
“Softsel Hot List,” confirmed: “You
won’t see Infocom following a trend.”
Starting with the all-time bestselling
game, Zork 1 (created on M.I.T.’s main-
frame, and then translated for micro-
computers), the company followed with
Zork II, Zork III, Deadline, Seastalker
(for youngsters), and many other works
Millionaire and Tycoon (a commodity
market simulation) are played in
schools. In the company’s newest re-
lease, Squire, players slip in their real-
life circumstances - with the goal of
reaching financial independence and re-
tiring within 20 years.
Electronic Arts, which brought out the
revolutionary Pinball Construction Set a
few years ago, has a basic product phi-
losophy which holds for most successful
software companies. “Our products must
be simple, hot, and deep,” explained di-
rector of public relations, Terrylynn
Pearson. Each program must be simple
for the user to handle; have a uniqueness
which makes it a “hot” (sought after)
item; and depth of playing content so
users will play the games again and
again. The company’s first game, Pin-
ball Construction Set, was a multi-
award-winning landmark: it was the first
game a player could custom edit. The
programming, very sophisticated for the
time, allowed users to design their own
pinball fields, having the option to add
extra flippers and inflate the point value
of bumpers, or otherwise rig the game
for their benefit.
for book-reading computer-users who
enjoy being the hero/heroine of a novel.
After 400 players called in one day to get
hints for Zork, company officials pub-
lished a book of hints written in invisible
ink (which came with a decoder pen).
This company’s approach to business is
reflected in its sales figures: sales last
year hit $6 million, up 264 percent from
its first year, 1982.
Robert Slapin, president and founder
of the thriving Blue Chip company
which offers Millionaire, Tycoon, and
Squire, doesn’t believe in games. He be-
lieves in presenting dry information in an
entertaining manner. Slapin recalled
watching Millionaire creep up the charts
during the last year and a-half, each time
the game market took a turn for the
worse. (More than 60,000 copies of this
$59.59 game have been sold thus far.)
LORD OF THE RINGS*
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decisions... key people are always
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So they need every communications
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Superset 4™ the ultimate intelligent
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Unlike ordinary business phones,
Superset 4 helps busy people. . .
executives, managers and secretaries
alike... rise above the demands on
their time by providing all the benefits
of advanced communications. . .
simply and effectively. With Superset 4,
individual control is so easy and
so complete, each User
becomes a ‘Lord of the
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Put yourself in the ' '
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Now you cairshrink H
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the touch of one
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button. It helps you conduct meetings
without meeting.
It eliminates the wasted time of dialing
and redialing. And lets the true pro-
fessional image of your company shine
through even' call. All with a minimum
of effort on your part.
And as far as comparisons go, there
aren’t any. Superset 4 is that far ahead.
Especially when you consider that the
unrivaled communications power of
a Mitel system is the driving force
behind every phone. Mitel has a commu-
nications solution for every company...
from two people to two thousand;
I lelp your key people rise
above their bus) schedules
by taking them beyond the
i< ms ( >f ( >rd i na rv
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lor further information Mjk,.
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Superset 4 and Mitel are trademarks of Mitel Corporation
BUILDING HI I'l l U COMMUNICATIONS WOKCDWIDI'.
gram, Telarium reports that Bradbury
has “very definite ideas about the role of
computers in literature. . . By populariz-
ing his works using other media — such as
radio, movies, TV, and computers —
Bradbury hopes to bring books to more
and more people. If playing the sequel to
Fahrenheit 451 piques your interest and
leads you to the rest of his works, he’ll
have succeeded.”
I hope players will go back to the book
version to see what they have missed. As
literature, this electronic work deserves
to be marked down to somewhere
around Fahrenheit 17, which is the point
at which my mind numbs.
As an adventure game, though, it is
entertaining, and probably would attract
a following without its tie to a 32-year-old
classic of science fiction. It is reasonably
challenging, and it does not require too
much suspension '
of belief in the or-
dinary rules of log-
ic. And it is cer-
tainly several
levels of sophisti-
cation above earli-
er generations of
adventure games.
Dragonworld
Dragonworld,
another Telarium
game, by success-
ful fantasy authors
Byron Preiss and
Michael Reaves, is
an adventure set in
the land of Sim-
bala and starring
Amsel of Fandora,
the Duke of Dark-
There is a
tremendous
difference between
a work by the
author of the book,
and a work based
on a novel of the
same name
to give me a tour of the island, and found
nothing but a bunch of logs and some
vines. Aha! “Build a raft,” I told the
computer. “HOW WILL YOU BUILD
IT?” the Dragonworld disk responded.
“Make a raft with the logs and vines,” I
answered, and it did.
The top third of the screen is given
over to a set of pictures in a triptych.
When you are sailing in the boat, the
center frame shows your craft, and the
left and right frames show ocean. On
land, you can usually see the view left,
right, and ahead. As with the other Telar-
ium graphics and text games, the pic-
tures can be turned off — with little loss to
serious adventure players.
A little later on, in the middle of the
forest at Simbala, I hear a “windship”
floating by, and the program helpfully
suggests I signal it and ask for a lift. I
try calling to it,
"" and the program
drops a broad
hint: “WHERE
THERE IS FIRE,
THERE IS
SMOKE.” How
do you light a fire?
Well, you might
try using the mag-
nifying glass you’ll
find if you look in
your bag.
There are three
arcade-like games
within the text ad-
venture, including
a scene where you
must destroy at-
tacking bats, and
another where you
are trying to catch
ness, Thalos the Armorer, Hawkwind,
and the kidnapped Last Dragon, the ob-
ject of your quest. It is a place of magic
spells and secret codes and an entertain-
ing world for fans of Dungeons and
Dragons.
While such a fantastic scenario proba-
bly has a more limited audience than a
Ray Bradbury title, even those “read-
ers” who’ve never heard of dungeons or
dragons would likely, be charmed by the
open sense of joy and adventure dis-
played in much of the work. The product
would seem to be aimed at youngsters
through their mid- to late teens, although
there is no age group mentioned on the
packaging. I was impressed with the logi-
cal challenges presented by most of the
puzzles, even in a world of fantasy. For
example, the opening scenario puts you
in a boat heading for the land of Simbala
to rescue the good Last Dragon from the
forces of evil. Perhaps it was merely my
seamanship, but I quickly ran my sail-
boat aground and saw the vessel
smashed to pieces on the rocks of a de-
serted island. I instructed the computer
jewels. The games are not very challeng
ing, but they do provide a bit of a break
in pace. The program also allows you to
conduct practice sessions with the ar-
cade games before entering into the ad-
venture for real. The arcade games can
be played from the keyboard or with a
joystick.
Dragonworld, then, seems a worthy
product for fantasy game lovers, requir-
ing a bit of logical thinking. It comes in a
handsome package with a map of the
netherworld of Simbala and instructions
on parchment-like paper. Also included
is a colorful translucent fantasy picture
that can be mounted on a window
Indiana Jonas In the Lost Kingdom
“Nobody told Indiana Jones the piles.
And no one will tell you,” declares the
cover blurbs for Mindscape’s Indiana
Jones in the Lost Kingdom. This is es-
sentially true — there are no significant in-
structions with this package other than
those necessary for loading and starting
the game. (There are some very sophisti-
cated and expensive databases and
spreadsheets that offer the same sort of
nonassistance, although the joke is not
half as funny.)
The game itself is a set of arcade-like
puzzles that you must solve, using a joy-
stick and not the keyboard. I think it is
fair to say that the game is neither by the
authors of the movie, nor even based on
the movie. Instead, it is sort of inspired
by the movie. The opening scene, pre-
ceded by a competent rendition of the
Raiders of the Lost Ark theme song, is a
mind-boggling pyramid with various
traps arid terrors of the sort Indiana
Jones seems to enjoy. There are three
levels of play, and you can practice on
any one of the scenes in any order, al-
though the only way to “solve” the com-
plete puzzle is to pass through the six
screens in sequence. Mindscape also
promises some unusual surprise for
those who make it through all six: your
faithful reviewer did not come close
enough to gain even a hint of what this
might be.
Mindscape offers two types of assis-
tance to bewildered players — a set of six
vague clues that can be read from a book
with the aid of a secret decoding device,
and an unusual 24-hour hint hotline that
can provide some very specific answers
for each of the six puzzles of the game.
You can call the number ( not a toll-free
call) and punch in the code for the solu-
tion you want; if your phone is not a
touch-tone device, the company claims
to have operators on duty during busi-
ness hours Monday through Friday.
I called in three times during my week-
end of interactive fiction, and got such
clues as, “Use the cane to fight off the
bats, touch the white ball. Keep going
until all of the colors are transferred.
Leave the screen by the left side.” I fol-
lowed all of the hints, but I never did win
the heart of the damsel in distress.
Mindscape has done a decent job of
presenting puzzles that an inventive and
experienced arcade game player should
be able to figure out, even without any
instructions. The availability of the 24-
hour clue hotline is interesting, but two
points should be made here: first, par-
ents might want to consider the cost of
long-distance calls in with the price of the
game, and second, competitive players
might prefer not to suspect that friends
may have used Ma Bell instead of hours
of practice to zip through the puzzles.
■ Hltchhlkor'* Oukte to fha Galaxy
I did not have to go any further than
the opening scene of Infocom’s Hitchhik-
er’s Guide to the Galaxy to realize that
author Douglas Adams was very much
involved in the authorship of this elec-
tronic book. I kept imagining my IBM
PC was gigglin g. This game is every bit
as charmingly maddening as any of Ad-
ams’ books, including his current best-
MARCH 15. 1985
97
seller, So Long, and Thanks for All the
Fish. In fact, whole sections of the game
seem to be lifted from the Hitchhiker
novel — you might even want to use the
book as a guide to the guidebook.
The story involves the escape from
Earth of one Arthur Dent. His home
planet has been demolished by a con-
struction crew from Vogon as they
cleared the way for a new hyperspace
bypass. Throughout your travels, you
carry your copy of the Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, which is filled with
strange and occasionally helpful informa-
tion about the unusual galaxies in which
you find yourself.
The program comes packed with a
bunch of essential goodies for any gal-
axy-wise traveler, including a package of
fluff (“Goes anywhere,” Adams tells the
reader, “under the bed, behind the com-
mode, at the bottom of your pocket, in-
side your navel!”); a red “Don’t Panic!”
button (“Perfect for those times when
your planet is being bombarded by laser
beams, your toaster starts talking to you,
and traces of radioactivity are discov-
ered in your breakfast cereal!”) and a
handsomely wrapped Microscopic
Space Fleet (“Just the thing for attacking
microscopic civilizations.”) Also inside
is a lavishly illustrated, bizarre instruc-
tion manual by Adams (and his co-author
for the electronic edition, Steven
Mertzky.)
This is at heart your basic Infocom
text-only game, one that relies solely on
the imagination of the reader. The game
uses Infocom 's well-honed simulation of
conversation that includes a more than
adequate vocabulary for most users.
You can talk directly to any of the char-
acters you encounter in the game by
starting a sentence with his or her (or its)
name; if your statement is obscure, the
program will attempt to make sense of it
rather than merely rejecting the input.
Beyond the technical polish, however,
Hitchhiker’s Guide stands out from other
adventure games because of the way it
integrates the book’s author’s unique
and entertaining style into the interactive
electronic format. Instead of stripping
the work down to “fit” onto a computer,
Adams and Meretzky transform the
work to make the most of the new medi-
um’s capabilities — specifically, interacti-
vity' In one instance, when the computer
responded to an unwise request for a
drink of mineral water, I was treated to a
screenful of fanciful Adamsian prose, ex-
plaining how something I’d done earlier
eventually led to universal peace, before
the computer finally informed me that
none of it mattered because I was dead.
These touches help create a “Hitch-
hikers Guide” state of mind in the play-
er-quirky, irreverent, and lots of fun.
Another example: At one point playing
the game I came to a hallway with two
doors. I told the computer I wanted to go
south into the engine room. “YOU
DON’T REALLY WANT TO GO
THERE, DO YOU?” the program re-
sponded. For some reason, I really did,
and I told the computer that. “REAL-
LY?” Adams/Meretzky/IBM PC asked.
Yes, really, I responded. “BUT ARE
YOU SURE?” Yes, dam it, I said, and
this time the computer said, “OKAY,”
and let me into the room. Sure enough, in
the room there were a half dozen inter-
esting things to collect and put into my
satchel.
You don’t have to be loony to play this
game, but it sure helps to feel that way.
Infocom’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal-
axy is the first true electronic book I have
“read” that is worthy of a place on any
electronic bookshelf.
' - - * *i
Just in Time for Taxes
r
■j >> ;
J. K. LASSER’S YOUR INCOME j you figure specific line entries, and
TAX J. K. Lasser Institute and Amber then enters the figures on the form for
Systems, Inc. Simon & Schuster, y. you, it would be more helpful if it some-
$79.95. ISBN 0-671-53213-8 (IBM PC < how retained a record of your calcula* '
and XT). *- - ‘ v- ; tions which could then be reviewed
Simon & Schuster has been publishing when you checked your work. And the
this yearly tax guide in book form for 48 computation function (that is, tallying
years, to the tune of 27 million copies. I sums from the entries made on the
Unfortunately, the software version is-> forms) works only after the entire form
npt yet as polished as its print prede- . has been filled out; intermediate results .
cessor, which comes with the program, such as Total Income (line 23) or Ad-
‘ , Y1T has two modules, one for tax ; justed Gross Income (line 32) are un-
preparation and one for tax planning. ; available. / , . ..
They are actually two distinct pro- Y v /The program can print its findings eir*:
grams that alas, do not share data. Us- v ther in full or as entries in the appropri-;,
ers who want to take information ate places pp tax forms, if you have tax
gleaned from the preparation module forms that will go through your printer , .1
and put it into the planning module wflj i Otherwise, you will have to enter your
be sorely disappointed. The prepara- ^.results in the correct forms by hand,?
tion program does the basic job of com* since the IRS will pot accept printouts,?
puting your taxes from information thaf^Vi The lax planning module permits the',
you provide much as you would on reg^creation pf up to 15 tax plans of from:
ular tax schedules. After filling out an y one to five years each; Basically, it is a ;
on-screen questionnaire that , corre-^ summary of the major headings of the
sponds to the top of Form 1040, you are tax preparation forms; into which you ;
given a menu of tax schedules to pick ^ enter your income and expense esti-’
from, including the 1040, Schedule C mates. The' program calculates the tax?
for business income, and all of the oth- ’] consequences * of each, so you can r «
er usual forms required for itemized de^*; quickly see the effect of deferring in-'
ductions; totals from all the secondary -j come, for example, or of switching in-
schedules are automatically posted to j vestments to tax-free bonds, including'
the 1040. . . t * ~ s i , ; - i the " Alternate Minimum Tax conse-
- The array of various schedules nec- ' quences. It does not include individual;,
essary to complete your return can be schedules, only; the total taxes. While,
confusing, so the screen display helps, that’s all you really need, it -would
. you keep track of where you are in tfic V nonetheless be convenient to have a re- r -
process and what steps you can take j cord of the individual amounts that are"
next. Across the top of every screen is j added to reach a given total. ’ - - - >
’ a banner denoting which form is iniise, ; All in all (YoUr Income Tax is fairly ^
’plus a reference to the appropriate sec- 'helpful and easy to use, especially. con-4
tion of the Lasser book. The bottom of /- sidering the subject matter. But it could
the screen tells which Auctions are us-' 4J>p more jo, .jS&S has already an- '
able at any given' time; functions in- | nounced plans to update the program"
elude a help function and a calculator ^ next year to include any changes in the 1 :
as well as standard computation and/? tax laws, One can only hope that the’
storage features. -4 •, y r *4-' ? . ^publisfier wfll also take the opportunity •
Some of these functions look more <|fr make the program even more useful ;
helpful than they ultimately turn out fr y fry ; improving the help ‘and error mes-lf
be, however; The help messages arpn 1 ! £ sages knit more: effectively integrating
particularly useful,, rarely offering any £ the valuable guidance of the book into?
98
PW/ SOFTWARE PUBLISHING & SELLING
62 Pittsburgh/Dexmbcr 1964 ~ — -- ■
t’s that time of year again when spirits
droop and your activity calendar is
whiter than the snow covering thecity.
It’s easy to craw-1 into bed, pull the blankets
over your head and hibernate.
But there are other ways to survive Pitts-
burgh’s heavy snowfalls and freezing
temperatures. The city offers plenty of
things to do that are guaranteed to keep
your circulation going until the spring thaw.
You just have to look around for something
to do that strikes your fancy.
We’ve compiled a sampling of some
winter activities— both indoor and
out— that will keep you warm and enter-
tained during the chilly days ahead. So,
don’t just sit back, sip your hot cocoa, and
complain about the weather and being
bored. Put some fun into your winter...
Book Warms?
If you’re not one for braving frigid
temperatures and slippery sidewalks, the
best activity for you might be to curl up on
the couch in front of a roaring fireplace with
a good book. You’ll have to supply the
fireplace but Jay Dantry, one of our trusty
local bookshop owners, surveyed his
stocked shelves seeking the season’s hottest
topics. He discovered these:
The Talisman by Stephen King &. Peter
Straub
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete
Correspondence
Collected Stories by Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
Lives of the Poets by E.L Ductorow
Home Before Dark: A Biographical Memoir
of John Cheever by daughter Susan
Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little
Big Horn by Evan S. Connell
Strong Medicine by Arthur Hailey
Getting to Know the General: The Story of
an Involvement by Graham Greene
lacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca
Mr. Noon by D.H. Lawrence (A auto-
biographical novel that was “lost” for many
years.)
PittsburF*
Pittskrorgh,
M.
»A.
Dr: i::i
Games People Play
One of the best activities for the great in-
doors is to settle down for a long winter’s ses-
sion with a board game and a few friends.
Despite the rage in electronic play gadgets,
board games have maintained their
popularity and have grown in sophistica-
tion since the creation of age-old Monopoly
and Clue.
According to Fred Woelker, owner of
Games Unlimited in Squirrel Hill, two fields
of play are prominent this season— trivia
and mystery. And the games are geared
more for adults than children.
Trivial Pursuit is probably the most talked
about property on the shelves today , but it is
being joined by trivia games on just about
every subject known to man. Games such as
“Rock Trivia,” “The People Magazine
Trivia Game,” “ Ripley’s Believe It or Not,”
“The Time Magazine Game,” “Bible
Trivia,” “The TV Guide Game” and “Pur-
suit of Pittsburgh Trivia” (created by native
Pittsburghers) are popular sellers along with
the spin-off companion additions to Trivial
Pursuit (Silverscreen, Baby Boomers, and
All-Time Sports).
The mystery category has created a crowd
of Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queens and
Miss Marples throughout the city. These
games range from simple “whodunits” to
complex role-playing situations that can
turn a dull, chilly evening into heated fun.
The “most popular” list for aspiring sleuths
includes “Consulting Detective,” “Twelfth
Night Murder,” “221 B Baker Street,”
“Murder by Proxy,” “Watersdown Affair,”
“Murder at the Mission,” “Scotland Y ard,”
and “The Grapes of Frath.”
Any or all of these games are guaranteed
to put you in good humor, so you might not
even notice the winter months passing.
Out of this World
If you really want to escape the ice and
cold of Pittsburgh this winter, at least for a
little while, take a guided tour of the galaxy
with “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy.” This newest work of interactive
fiction ffom \Infocom , one of the leading
companies for computer games, has been
wrinen by Douglas Adams, the creator of
the original book, and Steve Meretzky.
You’ll have a variety of interplanetary
adventures and meet a vast cast of in-
tergalactic characters as you ride around the
galaxy, fleeing the final extinction of earth
and seeking the meaning of life.
What’s the object of the game? According
to Meretzky, “Stay alive. Don’t panic. And
have a good time."
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
will be available in various game and book
stores in the Pittsburgh area in early
December.
A Space Odyssey
Buhl Science Center brings the heavens a
bit closer to Pittsburgh this season with its
fabulous sky shows and laser light ex-
travaganzas. During the Christmas holiday,
Buhl will present several special seasonal
shows that you and your family won’t want
to miss.
For information on the scheduled events
and program times, call 321-4300.
Blooming Fun
While April showers may bring May’s
flowers, the Phipps Conservatory keeps
them on hand year round. You will be able
to enjoy beautiful blooms at the Conser-
vatory’s Annual Holiday show from
December 16 through January 13, 1985.
But if you can’t wait, the tropical jungle
foliage, the cactus room, as well as the seven
other garden areas are open daily. Guided
tours are conducted for your convenience
Monday through Saturday at 1 &. 2 p.m.
For information and special tour ar-
rangements, call 255-2376.
Money Madness
Spending money has always been asso-
ciated with this time of year, and thanks to
th e KDKA Ultimate Warehouse Sale, you’ll
have the perfect opportunity to share in this
fun. On January 6 at the Expo Mart in
Monroeville, you’ll find rooms full of fur-
niture, audio equipment, sporting goods,
clothing, and hundreds of other items for
sale at spectacular savings.
For more information on this sale of sales,
call 271-6681 or 392-2595.
hire the London Symphony Orchestra for
$345,000 to perform at an intimate gather-
ing; purchase an original Michelangelo for
$2,000,000; or travel to Paris on the Con-
corde for a day of shopping for just
$196,000. The first person to spend $10
million on life’s little indulgences wins the
game.
SNOB, available at prestigious boutiques
and department stores, is sure to make the
winter a bit greener if only in your mind.
Check It Out
You can pamper yourself and possibly im-
prove your appearance by giving your
make-up a “Cosmeti-chek” at The Quarry
in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill.
According to Arlene Hydovitz, owner of
The Quarry, many women voice com-
plaints about the quality and appearance of
their make-up but they don’t know why it
occurs. In an effort to help women sort out
their make-up messes, Hydovitz and her
trained staff will test cosmetics combina-
tions for suitability based on the client’s
skin, texture, lifestyle, age, etc. and check on
the quality and safety of the cosmetics.
They’ll demonstrate how outdated colors
for lips, eyes and cheeks can be blended to
create a fresh new look. And they’ll also ad-
vise you on what make-up to wear, when.
For more information or for a free
“cosmetic-chek” appointment, call
Shadyside at 681-4743 and Squirrel Hill
location at 521-3733.
Spree of Sprees
If spending money by the bushel is
enough to pick up your spirits during the
winter doldrums, you’ll probably enjoy
“SNOB: The $ 10 Million Fantasy Shopping
Spree Board Game.” During play you can
Rubbing It In
Evalyn Nicklas, owner of The Magic
Touch in Mount Lebanon, believes she has
the most unique service idea in Pittsburgh
for picking up anyone’s winter spirits— the
Massage-A-Gram.
Putsburgh /December 1964 63
J
Sending a Massage- A-Gram is as easy as
sending flowers or a singing telegram. Once
the Massage-A-Gram is ordered, a cer-
tificate will be mailed or, upon request,
delivered personally. The massagee can call
The Magic Touch to set up an office visit or
arrange for a house call. All massages are ad-
ministered by a professional masseuse or
masseur.
Nicklas started the Massage-A-Gram ser-
vice to introduce the luxury of relaxation to
people who might not be able to frequent
high-priced spas.
This service could turn into the perfect gift
for someone in need of personal pampering.
To arrange for a Massage-A-Gram, call
531-6507 or 531-9965.
Bundles from Beverly Hills
Bundling up is a necessity during Pitts-
burgh winters, but not all of us can afford a
full-length mink or sable coat. Budgets not-
withstanding, you can still be warm and
fashionable with the Christmas and neon
sweatshirt collection from Beverly Hills
Designs.
The collections include white sweatshirts
with various designs and sayings (a ted-
dybear says “Hug Me!” and a sprig of
mistletoe proclaims, “Kiss me”), and neon
sweatshirts with popular sayings in bright
colors. But the most popular Christmas gift
is the bright red union suit with “Merry Me”
inscribed in green for $29.95. That’s one
way to keep your someone special warm on
those long, cold winter nights.
Hie sweatshirts cost $19.95 plus $2.50
shipping and handling charges. For a list of
all available merchandise and details for
ordering, call (213) 652-6703 or write: Bever-
ly Hills Designs, 9897 Santa Monica Blvd.,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Let’s Do It Again
When you find a good thing that works,
stick with it. And that’s exactly what the
William Penn Hotel will be doing as it brings
back ‘Tea on the Terrace” for the pleasure
of holiday shoppers and busy Downtown
professionals.
A civilized break from the frantic pace of
the season, Tea on the Terrace” offers the
chance to sit back and relax between 3 and
4:30 p.m. , and enjoy a spot of freshly brewed
tea and fancy scones, crumpets, finger sand-
wiches and other pastries. Hie teas are serv-
ed on the Terrace Loggia overlooking the
hotel’s bustling main lobby.
Teas will be available starting in mid-
December and will continue through
sometime in January.
Mall Talk
More than just places to shop, shopping
malls have become community gathering
places, so it’s no wonder the area’s malls
have a list of events scheduled to keep
patrons busy and happy during the upcom-
ing months.
The Century ID Mall in West Mifflin will
sponsor a variety of sidewalk sales January 9
through 13; a cheerleading competition
January 19; a sports car show on February 6
through 10; a computer show and exposi-
tion Feburary 14 through 17; and a home
improvement show February 27 through
March 2. For more information, call
653-1220.
Oxford Centre, Downtown will sponsor a
month of carolling and holiday celebrations
during December. For details, call 391-5300.
And the Monroeville Mall will sponsor a
number of expositions and shows in
December, January and February. For a
schedule, call 243-8511.
Let’s Go Parking
Allegheny County Parks host a variety of
winter fun activities from ice skating to ski-
ing and even snowmobiling for residents at
nominal rates throughout the winter
months.
Ice skating is offered at North and South
Parks at various times during the week for
different ages. Snowmobiling is allowed at
North, South, and Roundhill Parks along
marked trails. Permits are required. Cross-
country skiing can be enjoyed at all the
county’s parks.
For further information, call North Park
at 935-1967; South Park at 835-3545; and
Boyce Park, 327-8798.
Citiparks are also gening into the act with
ice skating, skiing and snowman making.
For information on these and other ac-
tivities at Highland, Frick, Riverview and
.Schenley Parks, call 255-2634.
Spirits of the World
There’s nothing like a quick nip to warm
the spirit and at Dreadnought Wines, Ltd.
in the Strip District you’ll find plenty of fine
wines to take the chill out of winter. Pitts-
burgh’s only wine showroom stocks a large
and unusual selection of wines from around
the world. A small sampling from South
Africa, Peru, Germany and other exotic
places are hidden on the shelves. Stop in
and visit Dreadnought. They usually pop a
few corks, especially during the bitey days of
December. For more information, call
391-1709 or stop in at 101 26th Street in the
city's Strip District.
Grapeful Quest
The Wine Restaurant in Oxford Centre,
Downtown, will be sponsoring a number of
wine tastings and lectures with noted
authorities at various times during the up-
coming months. If you’re thirsting for
knowledge as well as excellent wanes, call
The Wine Restaurant for details at
288-9463. Of special interest to gourmets
might be the Annual Game Feast Truffles
and Tailfeathers” on December 6.
The Endless Tan
You’ll have the perfect tan year round
when you visit Faces in Shadyside and use
the Wolff Sun-Tanning bed, which owner
Ethel Fabian says is the only safe tanning
system available.
Each session costs $8 or $49 for eight-20
minute treatments. For most people eight
sessions are enough for a beautiful, rich tan.
After that, one or two sessions a week for
touch-ups will give you the look of wintering
in Hawaii or cruising through the Bahamas.
For more details or to arrange an appoint-
ment, call 621-5992.
Basic Celebration
Hie Pittsburgh Dance Council continues
its Fifteenth Anniversary celebration with
its presentation of Basically Ballet, the se-
cond part of the 1984-85 season.
Featured performances include the
Feld Ballet and Les Ballets Jazz de
Montreal. For information, call
355-0330. □
I
t
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M last: galactU fun
without pow! or zap!
iy ROB BAKER
D ON’T PANIC: What
new computer game
comes packaged with
Foo Janta 200 Super-Chroma*
ic Peril-Sensitive Sungias-
es, a packet of fluff, de-
tract orders for your home
ind planet, a "Don’t Panic"
nitton and "no tea"?
Anyone familiar with
>ouglas Adams’ madcap in-
afpmne!ary satire, “The
litchhiker’s Guide to the
Salaxy,” will know, the
tnswer immediately. This
Iroll Englishman, a sort of
-foot British version of
Voody Allen-meets-John Be-
ushi, has transformed his
triginal concept yet again.
3c as a radio serial on BBC
n > mid-’70s, “Hitchhiker”
hen spawned a trilogy of
>est-selling books (the
ourth, “So Long, and
Hhanks for All the Fish" is
lue this winter), a TV series
(shown here on PBS), two
record albums and a stage
show.
It was, perhaps, inevitable
that it also become a compu-
ter game, since the central
thesis is that a hapless chap
named Arthur Dent is left to
wander the universe (after
Earth, his home and his fa-
vorite pub>' are all de-
molished), with only a mini-
micro-computer “guide" to
help him from crisis to crisis.
Adams has become a bit of
a computer nut over the past
couple of years, and he him-
self helped program the com-
puter-game version, in
association with Infocom’s
house zany, Steve Meretsky .
Like all of Infocom's games,
"Hitchhiker” features text
only— no graphics or simu-
lated star wars— with the
player making decisions in
each situation and typing in
possible courses of action on
the computer keyboard. The
computer then responds, and
the story advances, branch-
ing out into a complex liter-
ary maze — with various dead-
ends and secret passages
along the way. It is available
for virtually all computers.
STILL MORE HYSTER-
IA: Thanks to Warner Home
Video. VCR owners will soon
"Saturday Night” comas
home. Above, Murray, Curtin,
Radnor, Morris, Newman.,
Right, Chevy.
be able to celebrate "Satur-
day Night Live" any night
on-tape: Next month the
company will release 16 epi->
sodes of the popular series
on the home video market for
$39.98 each. Covering 1975-
1980, the shows included fea-
ture the original “SNL"
stars — Dan Aykroyd, John
Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane
Curtin, Garrett -Morris, Bill
Murray, Laraine Newman
and Gilda Radner. Hosts in-
clude Lily Tomlin, Rodney
Dangerfield, Madeline Kahn,
Ray Charles, George Carlin,
Eric Idle, Sissy Spacek and
Michael Palin, and musical
guests range from Joe Cock-
er and Paul Simon to Howard
Shore and His All-Nurse
Band. Look for them in video
stores on Dec. 17, along with
three collections gleaned
from another popular- NBC
series of a distinctly diffe-
rent stripe, “Little House on
the Prairie," at $59.95 each.
"WIND” IN MARCH: Hav-'
ing adamantly in is ted it
would not release “Gone ?
with the Wind” on home
video for at least five years,
MGM/UA Home Video has
had second thoughts and will
bring out the “most re-
quested title of all time” next
March.
-i-—
Daily News, Monday, November 19,
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BY PHIL AND
CHRISTINE WISWELL
With this issue, User Views bids
farewell to Bernie DeKoven.
Bernie, who’s been my partner on
this column since ENTER'S very
first issue, plans to devote all of
his time to developing software.
Beginning next issue, I’ll be
reviewing games with an avid 14-
year-old game player — Billy
Gillette. Meanwhile, “pinch-
hitting" for this one issue is
Christine Wiswell, my wife. As
you’ll see, Chris is a dedicated
player who knows what it takes to
make a great computer game.
—Phil Wiswell
♦♦♦
THE HITCHHIKER ’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY
(Infocom, IBM PC, $39.95; also for most
home computers)
Hitchhiker's Guide is the funni-
est text adventure we’ve ever
played. It is, of course, based on
the hilarious science fiction novel
of the same name. Hitchhiker's
author, Douglas Adams,
collaborated with Infocom on the
game design.
As the main character, you
wake up in bed, in the dark, with a
whopping headache. Just getting
the room to stop spinning is a
serious chore. When you get the
mail, you find a letter ordering the
demolition of your house. As you
look up, you see a bright yellow
bulldozer crashing through the
garden wall. Right away, you know
it's going to be one of those days.
Soon you meet up with your
travelling companion, a chap with
the odd name of Ford Prefect.
Now the fun begins. Earth has
been slated for demolition within
the hour. You have to figure out
how to escape by hitchhiking a
ride on a passing spaceship.
Once the planet-hopping begins,
you won’t believe what the galaxy
has in store for you.
WRAP-UP
PHIL: Infocom games have long
been known for their sense of
humor, but this one really frosts
the cake. If you don’t laugh, see
a doctor.
CHRIS: The game is funny. And,
like other Infocom games, it
understands your full sentence
commands. You almost believe
there’s someone in the computer
talking to you.
PHIL: Unfortunately, the puzzles
in this game are designed for
adventure game veterans.
Beginners may feel frustrated.
♦♦♦
PASTFINDER
(Activision, Atari, Commodore 64, $31.95)
Pastfinder is an arcade-style
action game with beautiful three-
dimensional graphics, smooth
animation and good sound
effects. You maneuver a small
landcraft over constantly scrolling
desert terrain. The craft, which
stays near the center of the
screen, can move Tight or left,
shoot at any oncoming menace
and jump over obstacles.
Your craft has one other skill —
picking up objects off the desert
floor. These objects — tools and
artifacts — are the real quest in
Pastfinder. You use the tools to
defend yourself against other
desert inhabitants. And you gain
points by trading in artifacts at
base camps along the way.
WRAP-UP
PHIL: Pastfinder reminds me of
Zaxxon. The gameplay is simple
and the three-dimensional scenes
are wonderfully detailed. And
here you do more than just shoot
and dodge. You’ve got a
mission — to retrieve those
artifacts.
CHRIS: This is a beautiful-looking
game, but it’s also quite abstract.
When you get right down to it,
Pastfinder has nothing to do with
exploring the past. It’s a scrolling
game where you jump and run
and shoot at things.
m
FORTUNE BUILDER
(Coleco, ColecoVision and Adam,
around $35.)
Fortune Builder can be played
alone, but it really works best as a
two-player game. In fact, we think
it’s one of the best cooperative
games we’ve played.
The premise is this: A group of
investors wants $100 million
turned into $250 million over five
years. Players (each of whom
starts with $100 million) try to do
this by investing in 29 different
types of money-making
businesses, and by building
roads and bridges.
At costs ranging from $25,000
40
ENTER
APRIL 1985
OMNI
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tire, air, water, and earth squares onto which
players ' summon' their unique pieces by
magic In turn, players move or summon
pieces or cast one of a dozen different spells
When two opposing pieces meet, a very un
chesslike thing happens The square ex-
pands to fill the whole screen and the two
pieces slug or shoot it out. There s plenty of
action, but the underlying principle for suc-
cess is strategic-energy conservation—
and the game ends when one player runs
out of energy or occupies six special energy
squares. Everything you do costs difficult-
to-replemsh energy And this dichotomy is
what makes Adept so intriguing. You can
have an army of as many pieces as you can
afford to support.
2. Ballblazer (Atari, for Atari 5200) and One-
on-One (Electronic Arts, for Apple II, Com-
modore 64, and Atari computers) For the
best one- a two-player sports game of 1984,
we have a tie; we haven’t been able to
choose one over the other Ballblazer , the
creation of Lucasfilm Ltd., is best described
as futuristic soccer. Each player controls a
ship that glides, like an ice cube on glass, in
eight directions over the playing field but that
rebounds off the boundary lines or the other
ship like a pinball off a bumper. There is a
single large ball and a goal at either end
Scoring is never easy, however, because the
goals keep moving. A split screen gives each
player his or her own view of the action
One-on-One is a tense half-court game of
basketball in which each player takes con-
trol of a single dribbler— Larry Bird or Julius
Erving — with slightly different abilities Bird
is taller and better on rebounds. Dr. J is faster.
Shooting percentages have been pro-
grammed from every spot on the court, with
help from the real Bird and Dr. J, and the
result is a thrilling and faithful simulation of
the street game Both players make fancy
moves, easily accomplished with the joy-
stick, and fantastic plays are shown again
on instant replay. Okay, it’s a gimmick. And
so is the custodial engineer who sweeps up
the bits of broken Plexiglas after a player has
shattered the backboard with a particularly
hard slam dunk. But they re fun gimmicks.
And they give you time to towel off.
3. Boulder Dash (First Star Software, for
ColecoVision. Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari
5200, and Atari computers) Boulder Dash
is good enough to be the first home game
converted into a coin-op. The underground
action takes place in a maze of tunnels that
your character creates as he burrows
through the dirt. Your object is to avoid ava-
lanches and to coliect ail the buried jewels
on each level in two minutes. This opens a
door to the next, more difficult level (there
are 16 in all). Many different screens, all nicely
animated and with great sound effects, offer
plenty of puzzling situations
4 The Castles of Doctor Creep (Broder-
bund, for Commodore 64) This campy game
gives you 13 spooky castles to play in— each
with a different layout of rooms— for a total
of more than 200 individual screens. Each is
its own special puzzle The rooms connect
in a winding labyrinth of ladders, platforms,
and doors some of which require keys.
These keys are difficult to reach, often
guarded by electrical charges, trapdoois,
robot cannons, vampires, mummies, and
even Frankenstein s monster. Solving a
room means opening all the doors, which in
turn means solving adjacent rooms and sc
on, all like a good sliding- block puzzle.
5 Exodus: Uttima III (Origin Systems, for Ap-
ple II. Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Atari
computers). Warning: This Lord Britishs
most recent addition to his superb Uitima
series presents a fantasy role-playing world
of unparalleled size, complexity, and dan-
ger Fortunately, you need not seek adven-
ture alone, Ultima III allows up to four char-
acters to travel and fight as a group. You
create your own adventurers by defining their
races, sexes, types of being, and relative
powers of strength, dexterity, intelligence,
and wisdom. The cursor keys move your
party around the game board in search of
food, weapons, armor, information, treas-
ures,’ magic spells, and enemies to battle for
experience points. There are 26 actions you
can take— from (A)ttack. to (L)ook, to (S)teal,
to (Z)tatus You issue each command by
pressing the appropriate letter on the key-
board With all there is to explore. Ultima III
could eat up a year ot dull Sundays.
6. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (ln-
focom, for most home computers) Still un-
rivaled in the category of "interactive fic-
tion." or text adventure, Infocom has most
recently converted Douglas Adams s spoof
on science-fiction novels, The HitchniKer s
Guide to the Galaxy , into a riotous jaunt
through time and space on the computer
screen. The game has no graphics outside
those of your imagination (arguably the fin-
est) And you, not Adams, direct the plot by
controlling the actions of the main character,
Arthur Dent. The whole thing starts with a
whopping hangover and a bulldozer whose
orders are to demolish your house to make
way tor a new overpass Not to worry, though;
Earth is about to be demolished to make way
for a new hyperspace overpass If you can
find the electronic thumb, a device used to
hitchhike rides on passing spaceships, you
will live to laugh about it
7. King's Quest (Sierra On-Line, tor IBM PC/
PCjr ). King’s Quest is unquestionably the
best graphics/text adventure of the year be-
cause it s the first game to bring true ani-
mated action to the genre. Sir Grahame, your
knight in armor, can be moved from scene
to scene with keyboard commands of the
two-word sentence type. But Sir Grahame
can also be moved around within each
beautiful high- resolution screen to interact
witn other characters under joystick control
Sir Grahame’s challenge is to explore the
medieval countryside, find a treasure chest,
an enchanted mirror, and a magical shield,
and return them to the king Mapmaking is
essential to solving the many interesting
puzzles of King’s Quest And a knowledge
of children's stories helps because along the
way one meets sorcerers, ogres, elves
wolves, witches, a fairy godmother, end si:
the stuff of which classic fairy tales are made
16? OMNI
Interactive Fiction:
The Plot Thickens
BY JEAN CRICHTON
O nce upon a time in the short history of computer
software, companies vied to develop the most inge-
nious arcade games — sound-and-light shoot-’em-
ups with flashy color graphics, animation and
sound — and the goal was to destroy the most enemy spaceships
in the least amount of time. Today, bestseller lists feature a
very different kind of computer game — interactive fiction.
Sometimes called electronic novels and often touted as a new
literary medium, these are text-and-graphic adventures in
which the the player interacts with the computer through typed
commands that affect the course of an adventure story.
Modeled on lnfocom's legendary Zork. the game that almost
singlehandedly spawned the new genre, interactive fiction has
until recently been dominated by a puzzle-and-fantasy orienta-
tion. However, as professional writers begin to contribute to
this emerging form, a new emphasis on dramatic structure and
human values is expected to take hold. In addition, new fiction
categories may well be exploited — spy novels and westerns
could as easily be the basis for interactive fiction as romances,
psychological studies and even soft pom.
The pioneer in what has come to be called a new literary
medium is lnfocom of Cambridge. Mass., a company that sold
nothing but interactive fiction until recently, and won Softsel's
prize for the most bestselling recreation titles in 1984. A $6-
million-a-year software designer and manufacturer. lnfocom is
probably best known for its first product, a cavern adventure
and treasure hunt called Zork. Released in 1979. the game is
expected to surpass the million-dollar mark in sales early in
1985. With its succeeding 13 text-only titles, lnfocom has ex-
panded into genres other than Dungeons & Dragons- style fan-
tasies and commonly has 10 or more on Softsel's Hot List.
Attracted at least in part by lnfocom's success, several other
publishers have entered the interactive fiction contest within
the past few months, all of them w ith illustrated games, some
W'ith music and others bearing the names of bestselling book
titles. Led by the educational software publisher Spinnaker
with its Trillium (the name has been changed to Telarium. see
story, p. 64) and Windham Classics lines, the companies also
include Bantam, Activision, CBS Software. Rhiannon, which
is distributed by Addison-Wesley. and Sierra On-Line, a
veteran publisher of graphics adventures.
Not to be outdone in the bestseller category, lnfocom has
also added a title programmed with the active involvement of
British novelist Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy . coauthored by the in-house writer-programmer Steve
Meretzky. quiclv made it onto the Softsel Hot List.
Young as it is — and observers say that interactive fiction is
still in its infancy — this new genre already has its own off-
spring. A number of designers have developed software that
enables fans to write games of their own (see story, p. 50).
Other programmers have invented proprietary authoring sys-
tems for interactive fiction, hoping to build their own artist-
based development companies. And while no movies-from-
Criehton is a freelance writer living in A 'e\v York City w ho
frequently covers the softw are industry for SPS.
software have yet appeared, there have been at least two
computer-game novehzations — Shadow keep by Alan Dean
Foster, based on the Trillium game by the same name, and a
series of four choose-your-own-adventure books based on
Zork.
“For me and other writers, there's a huge untapped potential
here for fiction,” said Ron Martinez, who wrote the script for
Trillium's bestselling Rendezvous with Rama. “Rather than
being another genre or an enhancement of fiction, it's a new
medium, a whole new turf."
The Birth of a Genre
First, a taste of how interactive fiction works with a look at
Zork I (the first program in the Zork Trilogy). Booting the disk,
the following words appear on the computer screen, followed
by a blinking cursor: “You are standing in an open field west of
a w'hite house with a boarded front door. There is a small
mailbox here."
Spy novels and Westerns
could as easily be the basis
for interactive fiction as
romances, psychological
studies and even soft porn.
Beginning players may be confused about what to type.
Among the options:
WHAT DO I DO?, to which the program replies: “1 don't
know the word do."
SEARCH THE MAILBOX, which elicits: “You find noth-
ing unusual.”
INVENTORY (to see what you. the main character, might
be carrying): “You are empty-handed."
SMASH MAILBOX (in frustration): "What do you want to
smash the mailbox w ith?" WITH HAND: “There w as no verb
in that sentence." SMASH MAILBOX WITH HAND: “Try-
ing to destroy the small mailbox with a pair of hands is futile.”
I WANT TO GO TO THE HOUSE: “I don't know the word
wan®'
GO EAST: “The door is boarded, and you can't remove the
boards.”
GO NORTH: “You are facing the north side of a white
house. There is no door here, and all the window s are boarded
up. To the north, a narrow path winds through the trees."
CLIMB TREE: "You are about 10 feet from the ground
nestled among some large branches. Beside y ou ... is a small
bird's nest. In the bird's nest is a large egg encrusted with
precious jewels apparently scavenged by a childless songbird.
The egg is covered with fine gold inlay and ornamented in lapis
lazuli and mother-of-pearl. Unlike most eggs, this one is hinged
4 (.
PW SOFTWARl PUBLISHING & SELLING
The initial releases of Bantam's "Living Literature" iine,
developed with Imagic, feature sophisticated graphics and
scripts based on existing book series
iiiul closed with ii delicate looking clasp
The egr appears extremely fragile.*'
TAKE EGG: “Taken."
Frustrations aside (and. for the nos ice,
there will be many), one of the treasures
of Zork's Great Underground Empire has
been found without entering the while
house, or eating a lunch that reeks of
garlic, or taking an elvish sword that
lights up with a faint blue glow, or open-
ing a trapdoor that leads into a dark,
damp cellar, or facing a nasty-looking
troll with a blood-stained ax. Fanciful as
these activities sound, they are made
possible only by some very sophisticated
programming techniques that got their
start in artificial-intelligence laboratories
at two major universities.
The first interactive fiction game. Ad-
venture. a Tolkien-style cave-explora-
tion and treasure quest, was created in
the early 1970s on a Xerox mainframe at
Stanford. Designed by programmers Will
Crowther and Donald Woods, Ad ven-
ture was played by computer scientists
and buffs with access to a few hours of
computer play, usually in the wee hours of the morning.
The techies so loved Adventure that they transmitted it over
phone lines to computer-science departments all over the coun-
try, including the artificial-intelligence lab at MIT. And there,
in 1978, one of the enthusiasts. Scott Adams, came up with an
idea that most of his colleagues found ludicrous.
“I just happened to see Adventure on the mainframe at MIT.
and 1 was so intrigued with the concept that I wanted to put it
on a micro.” recalled Adams, now 32 and president of Adven-
tures International in Longwood. Fla., a privately held compa-
ny with several lines of games for the low-end cassette market.
"People laughed. At that time, the game was played on large
mainframes with megabytes of memory, and all I had was a
TRS 80 [Radio Shack] with 16K. But I did a similar type of
game, called Adventureland. and it's still selling.'
Like its mainframe antecedent. Adams' original Adventure-
kind w as based on a very simple standard of communications.
Players could interact with the game only through two- word,
noun-verb directives like GO NORTH. TAKE SWORD or
KILL TROLL, rather than being able to use complete sen-
tences. For Adams, this limitation was not a major flaw'. Even
today, he says, with a more sophisticated program. “999f of
the people playing with it use tw'o words. Only the less experi-
enced players try the longer sentences.”
But others sympathized with those often bewildered begin-
ners. among them the MIT researchers who founded Infocom.
During the mid-1970s. A1 Vezza. now Infocom's chief execu-
tive officer, headed the programming technology group at
MIT's computer-science lab. Using a mainframe computer, his
team invented a powerful programming language called MDL
(pronounced "muddle”), which permitted the development of
a story line with a variety of outcomes, and w-hat they called a
parser, actually a set of software that deciphers entire sen-
tences, including the adjectives, adverbs, pronouns and clauses
used in everyday speech.
Among the students working w ith Vezza was Marc S. Blank,
now Infocom's vice-president for product development, who
entered New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine after
graduating from MIT. Beginning in 1977, Blank worked with
another programme! to design the game that became Zork ,
commuting back and forth to his alma mater most weekends for
two years. Using MDL and the parser, the game permitted
more complex sentences — OPEN THE SACK. TAKE OU I
THE GARLIC' AND EAT IT — and equally flippant come-
backs: "What the heck! You won't make friends this way. but
nobody around here is too friendly anyhow .”
The Advent of the Parser
Now included in almost even work of interactive fiction,
parsers classify possible input from players into the words and
phrases the program w'iLl "understand.” providing answ ers for
as many eventualities as possible. The parser software is what
distinguishes adventure games from choose-your-own-adven-
ture books, which have a multiple-choice branching format.
"The parser conveys the intelligence of the game.” says Byron
Preiss, a packager of books and software who produced three
titles for Spinnaker Software's Trillium line of interactive fic-
tion. "It's like the brains of an adventure game.”
Those brains inform the parser as to whether a player's
command makes sense. For example. BURN PAPER would
be a meaningful way to destroy incriminating evidence, and
BURN ROCK obviously would not; a well-designed parser
would say so.
Most Infocom game parsers contain a vocabulary of about
600 to 1000 wwds. and. to save on disk-storage space, the
company’s system is geared to ignore content-free articles like
"the” and “an” and to "read” only the first six letters of any
w’ord. With the help of play testers who preview games before
release, the goal of company writer-programmers is to add
enough synonyms to the parser’s vocabulary so that responses
like "1 can’t understand that” are kept to a minimum. But with
the 20,000 to 100.000 words used in the text of an adventure
game, there are bound to be times when the parser will reject a
word used in its own text.
In deciding not to use a parser utility in its Tw ista-Plot adven-
ture stories for children. Scholastic Software recognizes the
frustrations that can occur in using a parser, sticking for the
most part to multiple-choice decision making. "We give them
yes-no decisions, or four choices, or they move a figure around
the screen to make choices,” says Debbie Kovacs. Scholas-
tic's creative director of software. "My intuition is that there
would be too many problems for them to get the right word
(using a parser].”
But these problems were seen as a fascinating gaming chal-
lenge when Blank. Vezza and other researchers formed Info-
com in 1979 and began designing a proprietary authoring sys-
tem for their new company. The resulting ZIL (Zork
Interactive Language) with its accompanying parser was used
JANUARY 2V |«#0
47
topioduce Inlocom v translation ol /<»>/, Hiphlx accl.nnn.d lot
powci to handk as mans as 2U to 30 dilUicnt gams paths
am! c ml i tips. /II undcipv.cs continual updalcs and is used to
tins do\ by the companx 's nine xxriici-piogrammcrs. including
Blank. \x ho continues to attend weekly story conferences
The companx has expanded its game themes beyond the
Punucons ct Dragons fantasy format and noxx divides its line ot
about 15 games into four subject categories murder my stern s
( Deadliru . 7 he Witness and Suspect), adventure (Seastalker.
Inf, del and Cutthroats), science-fiction thrillers (PlanetJaU.
Starcross. Suspended and Hitchhiker s Guide) and faninsx
(with two more Zork titles. Enchanter and Sorcerer).
And lnfocom has also changed its always innovative packag-
„u- n> make Us pt millets mole accessible to new. xompulet
useis. Original!) sold in a variety of shnnkxx lapped shapes and
mas. including Stan loss's } risbee-like box. the companx s
programs are noxx presented in broxx sable pac kagx s xx nh pi ex 1-
ously absent hints and word lists listed in the 20 or so pages of
instructions up front. Disks are sealed inside the back cox ci . In
addition to the expanded instructions. lnfocom h.ts also begun
offering the truly stumped plavei InvisiC lues Hint Bivs
which are printed in invisible ink and can be re. a xxi *■
included latent-image marker.
Combined with late-1984 price cuts ol 550 to 5x5 on some
titles, lnfocom’s efforts to appeal to the nontechnical compute'
owner has boosted its sales, especially for retailers like Wal-
f i
h
Interactive Fiction Finds a Place on Bookstore Shelves
I nteractive fiction may be a brave new art form, but it is
increasingly being marketed in one of the most traditional
literary formats — a book, with a sturdy spine and an illustrated
jacket bearing the author's name. Both Infocom’s games and
Spinnaker Software’s Telarium (formerly Trillium) and w md-
ham Classics brands are now marketed between colorful cov-
ers with maps and game instructions available for browsing,
and companies new to the genre are following sum
Not surprisingly, this pleases booksellers, who have long
urged software publishers to take off the shrinkwraps ^ cus-
tomers can see that they’re buying. “We have believed for a
while that interactive fiction made sense for bookstores, but
we carried lnfocom titles all year [1984] with only marginal
success." said Glenn Ochsenreiter, senior software buyer Jot
the Waldenbooks chain of 880 stores.
“Then, before Christmas, lnfocom came out with new pack-
agine for two new products. Cutthroats and Hitchhiker s
Guide to the Galaxy. Both did extremely well, and 1 attribute
the success to the package . which invites the consumer to open
the software much like a book. I now think we can sell t e
entire line." Ochsenreiter also reported "very definite suc-
cess’ ' over Christmas with the Telarium line, which has used a
fold-out. record-style album with the author’s biography and
promotional copy on the cover since its introduction last fall.
Telarium diskettes and game instructions are sealed inside the
lnfocom 's line of adventure games used to be packaged in
innovative, shrinkwrapped containers, most rectangular and
shelvable, but one, Starcross , came in the awkward shape of
afrisbee. Today the company is in the process of repackaging
its wares into identical rectangular boxes with one-inch spines.
“They have a book-like appearance, with 26 pages of text up
front and the game diskette sealed into the hollow- of the back
along with the game clues.” said Michael Dombrook. lnfo-
com’s product manager. “I've been told it's more comfortable
for people in bookstores, but we felt that what was being asked
for bv bookstores would work w'ith computer stores and soft-
ware-only stores too. and it’s been very effective there.
Brow sable packaging has also attracted Bantam Books,
which plans to bring out its first two interactive fiction titles in
March. “We developed a fold-out, album-style package with a
decent spine for shelving." said Margaret Tuttle, marketing
manager for Bantam’s electronic publishing division. It has
book-like cover art. We think the issue of browsability is very
* m But packaging text adventure games, which may be unfamil-
iar to new computer owners, involves more than the shape and
si?e of the box. noted Seth Godin, manager for new product
development at Spinnaker. “W'ith interactive fiction there s a
whole world you have to tell about . so the w hole feeling of the
package is different. It’s almost like a travel brochure.
Besides using book-like packages, all three software pub-
lishers are trying to position products to attract bookstore sales
bv developing titles associated with bestselling novels— lnto-
com with Hitchhiker’s Guide by Doug Adams. Bantam with
Damiano from R. A. MacAvoy’s Damiano Trilogy and the
entire Telanum line, based on books by such highly revered
science fiction authors as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Uarke.
“Using authors like these bnngs up a lot of associations,
Godin said. “In advertising, we’ve relied on titles like
vous With Rama and Fahrenheit 451 to bnng whole worlds to
people's minds, and when you say Rendezvous with Rama.
you’re talking about a really big world." . .
Godin has run into little price resistance to interactive fiction
software amone booksellers, “especially as the prices start 10
come down. The Windham Classics are S26.9>. and Telanum
is $32.95. That's no more expensive than a good art book.
Publishers feel that interactive fiction poses different mar-
keting challenges than other entertainment software because it
appeals more to adults than children Telarium's audience is
“the 30-year-old male," Godin claimed, while lnfocom s
“ marketing is aimed at adults, college-educated adults. Bright
teenagers are also in our market.” Dombrook said, “but if we
talk down to them, they don t appreciate it.
As with most computer products, women make up a
minority of interactive fiction players, though lnfocom claims
it is making some progress in bridging the gender gdp_ n out
last survey a year ago, we found that 90 yt of aH software is
purchased by men. while for our products the figure is 84. r.
So we feel we have a higher female component than other
companies, especially for the mystery games.
But lnfocom doesn't single out its murder mysteries. Dead-
line The Witness and Suspect, for special advertising to wom-
en or anv other market segment. Dombrook said the company
has “alwavs tried to tie the whole line together, to say, 1 he
company that publishes Zork also publishes other titles.
Bantam's marketing strategy for its Living Literature titles
includes special attention to bookstores. T utile said. W e lee
it’s very important for book store owners to know what inter-
active fiction looks like, so we plan a sample mailing to a
targeted group of booksellers who have access to computers so
they can see our games . That will make it easier for them to talk
to customers about it."
Tuttle feels book publishers like Bantam "are set up to di
i publicity in a wav few other software companies are" because
1 of their experience with author tours and their connections lot
getting authors on television. “1 can just see one of our
software authors answering questions on Don^ue. Bi^ksel
ers are used to this kind of marketing, and this should help
them sell software. Software-only publishers have concen-
trated on advertising, but marketing is more than advertts-
JEAN CRICHTON
ing
4K
pW SO! I WAR I I’l HI ISHIMi & Sl.l l.lNOl
developer of disk-based interactive fiction in late 1984. As a
marketing heavy. Spinnaker Software — w nh an estimated 40%
of the educational software sold today — came up with the idea
for its Trillium science-fiction line in talks with Byron Preiss,
the New York-based packager. The concept for Trillium
included color graphics, synthesized sound, brow sable packag-
ing and. most noteworthy, the names of well-known sci-fi
novelists and their bestselling books.
The Trillium line appeared on the shelves of computer and
software stores in October, priced at $33 to $40. depending on
machine version. “The line has done phenomenally well." says
Seth Godin, Spinnaker s product development manager.
“ Rama is selling best, probably because of the name, but we're
also doing very well with Fahrenheit 451 and Amazon." The
titles are packaged in small, fold-out versions like record jack-
ets. with disks and cleverly designed instructions sealed into
the sleeve ends.
Preiss had worked with authors Arthur (. Clarke and Ray
Bradbury on books that w on design awards from the Society of
Illustrators and Art Dircctots of America and “brought us a
number of the authors th.it we re w orking w ith." said William
H. Bowman. Spinnaker chairman. Because a sizable percent-
age of science-fiction enthusiasts own oi plan to buy comput-
ers, a line of interactive fiction based on sci fi classics was seen
as a promising venture
Of the five initial titles. Byron Preiss Video Productions
produced three — Fahrenheit 451. a sequel to the Bradbury’
bestseller about book burning in the 21st century: Rendezvous
Byron Preiss (top left), who helped Spinnaker package its
Trillium line; Roberta and Ken Williams (top right), of Sierra;
Infocom partners author Douglas Adams and game designer
Steve Meretzky (bottom)
j denbook'. where interactive tic
I lion had only mixed success ear-
| tier. “The new pricing and new
i packaging will make a difler-
| ence." said Glenn Ochsenreiter.
senior software buyer tor the
880-store book chain. “Infocom
j is almost unique. It’s very suc-
j cessful already . and yet it's very
j ready to listen to the needs of the
bookstores and respond."
Graphics:
A Competitive Edge?
Infocom is also unique in that,
unlike its competitors, it has cho-
sen nev er to use its memory for
graphics or sound, contending
that its products are more akin to
literature than games. But a
more important factor is that
graphics would take up game-
disk space that the company pre-
fers to use on its script. “We’ll
never have a graphic adventure
game, at least none is foreseen
now ," said Mike Berlvn. the In-
focom writer-programmer of
Suspended. Infidel and Cut-
throats. “The graphics would
take up too much room. Quality
graphics can only convey so
much. There's a place for graph-
ics. but it becomes like reading a
comic book rather than a novel . ’ '
But other companies, particu-
larly those just entering the mar-
ket. see graphics as a competi-
tive asset. One of the first was
the California publisher Sierra
On-Line, which claims to have
brought out the first illustrated
text adventure. Mystery House, with black-and-white graphics,
in 1980.
Mystery House was written by Roberta Williams, Sierra's
creative director, and programmed by her husband Ken, com-
pany president. The game was sold by mail order from the
Williams' home in Simi Valley, Calif., grossing $167.000 during
its first year and enabling the family 's move to Coarsegold in
the Sierra mountains, where company headquarters were es-
tablished.
Roberta Williams has continued to write most of the compa-
ny's Sierra Hi-Res (for high resolution' Adventures. Among
the nine current titles are Wizard and tin Princess, said to be
the first adventure game introduced with color graphics: The
Dark Crystal, the first based on a movie: and the micro-epic
Time Zone, which requires both sides of six disks to store more
than 1400 scenes on “seven different continents during nine
different time periods, from the era of cavemen to the year
4081." according to the company .
This past fall. Sierra released Kind's Quest, the first of its
games to have character animation. In addition, the leading
character. Sir Grahamc, can be controlled by joy stick or key-
board. The program, designed (at IBM's request) to show off
the PCjr graphics, also features sound — the user hears birds
chirping as he or she walks through the forest.
Spinnaker Comes on the Scene
Another company that places an emphasis on graphics is
Spinnaker Software, which joined Infocom and Sierra as a
j Ullll hilHUI I.M U|||J| .IlltllOl ( h.I k V U | Ok |UW e rullfl^' lt iul
! •'<"/</. bused on the fantasy bestseller In heiss himself
‘ HU nou '* 1 '' 1 M iw li.ii-l Reaves Oihci Trillium lilies :ti c Ania.on.
.in or igmal script In bestselling aiilhoi and film director Mi
sh.id ( nchton, and Shadow ke( p. designed by the develop
ment firm Uitrasofi and then novelized by Alan Dean I osier,
aiilhoi of 44 original books and film noveii/ations.
C nchton wrote Amazon himself, assembling his own soft-
ware-development team to program it and provide graphics
Bowman said, but authors Bradbur> and Clarke did none of the
u ruing for the game, serving instead as consultants and game
testers. They didn t care to do games themselves." said
f kiss, who wrote the Draponworld script with Heaves and
Hi \ nn, Suphuis. but hu\ mg doiu hooks u ith me. lhe\ trust-
! edrm to design tin. sofiwa.e There max be u liter s anxious to
! work on computers, but most of the g.eat v.s.onan writers
fia\e neither the know ledge not inclination to do a script. So we
used other good writers who have published books to get the
author s ideas into an entertainment form"— Kim Martinez for
hama and Len Neufteld for 45/.
Spinnaker has also introduced a W indham Classics line of
interactive fiction with graphics based on children’s classics.
^ mai kd are .S u7.\ \ / aitulv Rohin\<>n . prc>duced
b\ l orn Snyder Associates, and Below tin Root, a highly popu-
lar. joystick-operated game with 400 graphics screens created
by Dale Drsharoon. Scheduled for shipping w ithin the next few
Behind the Lines
T f interactive fiction is opening the way to a new and intrigu-
X mg form of home-computer entertainment, the process of
creating such works is fast becoming an art form and market
as well. Recently, a number of major software publishers
have introduced a writer's tool known as the “interactive
editor ’—a type of program that lets you write your own
interactive prose.
To understand what an interactive editor is, it is helpful to
understand how participatory prose — the writing produced by
the editor— wwks. The writing is novelistic, or narrative, in
style, but with one major difference: at critical points in the
text, the reader is asked to influence the course of the narrative
if he so desires. Naturally, as in any critically acclaimed liter-
ary- work, the experience is only as good as the ingenuity of the
writer. Thus, with an interactive editor, the writer of such
works is presented with a very powerful tool with which to
construct a story involving numerous permutations. (The writ-
er assigns a frame number to each screen of information and
then writes in the connection of that frame to the others in the
program on a status line: all of this is invisible to the reader)
While these programs may seem highly specialized, and in
fact were once the province of sophisticated programmers, a
number of software publishers have now introduced interac-
tive editors that are quite popular and sell well in retail outlets
ranging from Toys ’R Us to Waldenbooks. Scholastic Inc.',
for example, has recently released its interactive editor Story
Tree, a $39.95 program that challenges and inspires children
to write creatively . According to Philip Miller, head of pro-
gram development at Scholastic. Story Tree was primarily
designed for budding authors age nine and up. but is a literary
form that is enjoying popularity with adults as well. Savs
Mdler "Like Bank Street Writer— a w ord processor designed
lor children that has become a bestseller in the adult market
Story Tree is also being used by adults.”
Story Tree allows the author to enter factual information in
any order desired while creating branches between types of
information. "This means that the reader of a Story Tree
essay about Bigfoot. for example," explains Miller’, "can
retrieve information about the creature by following any par-
ticular line of information — from the locations where he w ; as
sighted to his peculiar physical characteristics."
Scholastic Inc. markets its products both within the
schools and to the trade through bookstores and computer
stores and is currently sponsoring a national writing contest
for Story Tree users.
Another interactive editor, W' hot 1J... The Interactive Writ-
er. is being released this fall by Millennium. The $74.95 pro-
gram is designed to meet both the needs of the fiction and
nonfiction writer. Company chairman Nicholas A. Ulanov
describes the way interactive prose might be used to take the
reader on a journey through American history. “You might.
for instance, follow the chronology of the American Revolu-
tion up to the point where you first encounter Alexander
Hamilton. If you find him a sufficiently interesting personal-
ity, you might then follow his career to a certain point. Per-
haps when it involved economics you might, instead, follow
the economic history of the early days of the Republic
One of the problems that many people have with histo-
ry. says Ulanov, “is that they have trouble seeing the
threads that connect themes. With participators prose, you
can follow the themes m a way that's understandable and
accessible, and this makes the content come alive."
In referring to the changes that writers w ill encounter when
using such a tool. Ulanov asserts. "The interactive editor
forces the writer to no longer speak in a voice that is commu-
nicated directly into the ear of the reader. The author now has
to become multidimensional, has to be in more than one place
at the same time, and has to constantly thread together the
components of a story that is vaster than anything anv one
reader will encounter. It’s one of the most demanding’ tools
ever published in software because it requires exhaustive
effort and thought. In some sense, most other computer tools
for writers make life easier, in some ways this makes writing
harder, though perhaps very rewarding and great fun ” '
All developers of interactive editors agree that the tool is
especially ideal for children and teachers. Teachers use it to
create courseware — interactive learning programs — to take
their students on learning adventures. And children who have
tested interactive editors in the development stages have
shown great interest in writing creative adventures for other
children to experience or solve. One softw are companv reach-
ing out directly to this market is Spinnaker Software, who
recently released Adventure Creator , a $39.95 program recom-
mended for writers age 12 and up. Unlike other interactive
editors, Adventure Creator uses color graphics to help with the
design of adventure stories, and it is programmed to generate
its own adventures as well. Another program. Adventure Writ -
e/. is marketed by The Code Writer Corporation to teachers
and writers who want to create their own stories or narratives
1 his sophisticated program, which allows for more extensive
branching, retails lor $60 to $70. depending on the computer
The individuals who are developing and using interactive
editors see the power and potential in the tool and take very
’ inC * eeC *'- t * ie wor ^ s are being produced with it. “I
think or the first time in a very long time, a new genre has been
added to the literary forum." Ulanov notes. “This is just one
example of just how exciting the computer age is. From my
point ol view . word processors have not been that different
lrom inventing a better quill, a better pencil. Now we're
beginning to see the serious impact that computers can have on
the creative community and on the world of ideas “ rit A aero
I'W SOI I WAR I II HI IS 1 1 1 Si( i A SI 1 UNO
months au Jimsun Island, a Rieiss purduced title lh, \\ ).
*■ w\i o f {);. produced in-house at Spinnakci . ami .4 /.*» < in II i ■/,
derland. also b> Disharoon. Both Disharoon titles vveie dc
signed without a parser, according to Seth Godin Instead, a
pull-down menu for each decision point goes players up to It. ,
different choices of dialogue and game direction
CES Hosts New Lines
The success of companies such as Infocom and Spinnaker
has sparked the growth of the market for interactive fiction,
and a number of new lines scheduled for release this spring |
were on display at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas. They include the following:
• Bantam's Living Literature line, featuring
two original scripts based on books — Another
Bow , a post-World War 1 murder mystery with
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and / Da-
miano . based on Bantam's Damiano trilogy by
R. A. MacAvoy. Developed in collaboration
with Imagic. the initial titles are scheduled for
release March 15. says Kenji Sugihara. director
of Bantam's Electronic Publishing Division.
The Holmes title, written by Peter Golden,
has “photorealistic graphics” and a “break-
through” parser, which understands a 2000-
plus word vocabulary, Sugihara said. As
Holmes, the player will communicate with the
computer bv addressing Dr. Watson and telling
him to GO AFT and PICK UP THE BOOK in
an effort to distinguish the killer from famous
and varied celebrities on the passenger list,
such as Houdini. Picasso. Thomas Alva Edison
and Gertrude Stein.
Featunng characters out of the onginal fanta-
sy novels. 1 Damiano was written by Dennis
Lamb in consultation with author MacAvoy,
who participated in the preliminary story con-
ferences and reviewed the script periodically.
The graphics are keyed to plot action in such a
way that characters who are killed, for exam-
ple. disappear from the screen.
•Activision's Living Novel series, including
Minds hadow and The Tracer Sanction. The
video-game manufacturer, headquartered in
Mountain View . Calif., worked with the devel-
opment group Interplay Productions to pro-
duce the games w'ith about 85 color-graphics
screens and limited animation, according to
Ralph Giuffre. vice-president of marketing.
The company has worked to make its games
accessible to novices, and both games feature a
humorous “help” character, called the Con-
dor, and onscreen illustrated tutorials listing
parser vocabulary w ords and game commands.
In Mindshadow , players take the role of a char-
acter who wakes up on a desert island with no
idea of who he is. The Tracer Sanction con-
cerns the manhunt for an interplanetary crimi-
nal know n as The Wing, w ith players serv ing as agents of the
Stellar Investigations Agency.
• CBS Software’s Felony , an interactive fiction-style sequel
to its 1984 bestseller. Murder By the Dozen, in which a team ol
up to four players tries to solve the crime with the help of a
detective manual and crime-buster worksheets CBS Software
also markets Adventure Master , an adventure-game authoring
system by Christopher Chance and Jean Craighead George,
which enables computer users to write their own interactive
fiction, according to Marvlynn Rosenblum. vice-president ol
product development.
• Rhiannon. distributed by Addison-Wesley, with two more
games in Ms gi.iphu ■> u xt ,nlw nttiu st i ie s t oi m i h < hi /%«■«/ of
lilt .Si >i,lh S . </\ .Uid I ttin. I. Ill lilt 2Mli ( tllllU\ Kin. union,
based m \ iigmi.i Im- nluaely marketed Jcnnii ol //a Frairii
and ( <n < lirli Lin
Literory Shortcomings
Despite the continuing fascination with /(>//. and olhei ad-
venlurc-gamc classics observers have begun to ciitici/c some
of the early programs foi literary shortcomings stemming at
least in part from the tact that most adventure games have been
written by people tunned as programmers, "/oik is an arche-
typal puzzle, witty and sophisticated, but at no time could you
call it tt story." said Berlyn. 34. who w rote three science-fiction
books and headed his own software company in Aspen. Colo.,
before joining lnlocom two years ago. “Adventure games are
puzzle-oriented and inter active fiction is plot-oriented Adven-
ture games aic very static, interactive fiction is dynamic.”
Because ol the puzzle orientation, many works of so-called
inteiactive fiction lack both a time line (meaning that the plot
moves in response to plavers) and ffeshed-out characteis (who
might respond emotionally). Berlyn noted. In responding to
these kinds ol complaints, he and othei writers from print
backgrounds who aie now entering the field have added richer
characterization and plot complexities that occm no matter
what game path plaveis take. “In my opinion, the' first example
JANUARY 2V IW<
51
i
I
1
I
}
. 1
^■4
I
♦
1
1
of real interactive fiction was Deadline [the Infocom game that
gives players 12 hours to solve a locked-door murder mys-
tery]." said Berlyn. "It has characters that move around of
their own volition, and it gives you the ability to affect the other
characters' perception of reality and their attitude. If you ac-
cuse someone of murder, they could become resentful and
refuse to talk to you."
Writing for interactive fiction does require some knowledge
of programming, but writers grounded in the classical literary
and dramatic tradition are needed for the genre to evolve, says
Martinez, w ho has dev eloped his own TRANS authoring sys-
tem. "This is a technical medium, but the best stuff is the result
of a combination of programming and writing. You have to
know how to tell a good story."
Spinnaker is even hoping it can enlist authors with no com-
puter know-how through its own authoring system. Spinnaker
Adventure Language (SAL). The original Trillium agreement
called for outside developers to use their own authoring sys-
tems and parsers to produce games and graphics, but in the
meantime the company created SAL. in the belief that "an
important pan of our future would be in adventure games."
Spinnaker chairman Bow man said. "So we decided to build an
internal development system that would enable us to go to a
creative person like a Ray Bradbury or a Harry Harrison [the
British science-fiction writer] and not require that creative per-
son to have a relationship w ith a bunch of programmers."
Designed by Dick Bratt, Spinnaker's vice-president of engi-
neenng. SAL is based on the C computer language, which
permits programs to be convened easily for use on a variety of
computers and even, with a specially constructed grammar,
into foreign languages. Bowman claims SAL does "what no
one else has been able to do. that is. take a huge number of
pictures — 100 to 150 per game — and compress them into a
very, very small space on a disk along with incredibly rich logic
and make it fit."
Some of the initial Trillium titles, including Preiss’s original
52
■yw i i i if i w y
Atari programs, were published in the developers' formats,
"but they translated our games into other machine versions via
SAL." said Freiss. w ho has several other titles under develop-
ment for Spinnaker. "In the future, we'll do the coding in their
language."
The Future
Future developments in interactive fiction can be expected
on several fronts, both literary and technological. As profes-
sional novelists and others from nontechnical backgrounds be-
come interested in the genre, they may bring to it stories and
settings from a wide variety of fictional categories, translating,
say. historical romances or western dramas for the computer
screen. Among those working in the field already is Timothy
Leary , former Harvard psychology professor and drug guru,
who has formed a company called Futique ("as opposed to
antique") to develop "very highly interactive software, using
psychometric methods for translating the klutzy, creative
methods of the human mind into computer terms."
Advances in microcomputer technology could expand
graphics and sound capabilities. Improved sound chips, for
example, could enable the computer (or characters in the plot)
to "talk" to play ers. And video laser disks, which observers
predict may be routinely linked to microcomputers within a
decade, could v astly increase storage of data, permitting larger
parser vocabularies and life-like animation
"With two spinning laser disks controlled by a microproces-
sor, the graphics could resemble an interactive cartoon like you
see now in some video arcades." said Kip King, a lawyer and
software developer who now represents software designers
through the Boston office of the talent agency K M. "A lot of I
traditional authors interested in exploring a new art form could 1
move interactive fiction from the one-dimensional world into]
three dimensions. What you sec now is like looking at the bison!
on the w alls of the Lascaux Cave in France and being asked to]
imagine the Mona Lisa."
PW SOLI WARE PUBLISHING K SELLING]
David Bishop
The term “state of the art”
is often misguidedly ap-
plied to things not worthy
of the accolade. However,
having spent many hours
exploring the bizarre world
of Douglas Adams’ Hit-
chhikers Guide To The
Galaxy, I am convinced
that the art of computer
adventures should always
be in this state!
Hitchhikers, the com-
f iuter game, comes from the
nfocom stable, famous for
such thoroughbreds as
Deadline and the Zork
trilogy. All Infocom’s pro-
ducts feature highly
sophisticated langauge in-
teraction and have been
labelled “Interactive Fic-
tion”, rather than adven-
tures. A description which
perfectly describes a good
night’s interaction with
Hitchhikers.
Adams and Infocom col-
laborated on the project
from start to finish and this
marraige of talent has prov-
ed an unqualified success
with much of the text being
original rather than taken
straight from the bock or
the play or the radio series
or the feature film or the
T-shirts, or the ... I
Having spent so long
hitchhiking around the
galaxy, I’m not about to
make it easy for anyone
else but a few ditties should
serve to wet your appetite.
As in the book, the game
starts with you, Arthur
Dent, trying to persuade a
particularly silly civil ser-
vant that demolishing you
home to make way for a
motorway wouldn’t be at
all friendly!
Still, none of this matt-
ters because the Earth’s go-
ing to be destroyed in 12
minutes to make way for a
new Hyper-Space Bypass
being built by a Vogon Con-
structor Fleet.
Having hitched a lift off
the Earth with your friend,
Ford Prefect, ” who, you
have just discovered, is
really a researcher for the
Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy, you are captured
by the Vogons.
The Vogon captain in-
sists on reading you some
of his poetry (the second
worst thing in the Galaxy,
according to the Guide)
before throwing you out in-
to space.
So, Babel fish in ear, you
are flung out into space and
are picked up by the Heart
of Gold, a revolutionary
new ship powered by the
Improbability Drive. To
6III0E EO JHE6MMV
reveal just what exactly
you would have to do would
spoil your enjoyment, but
suffice it to say that in
order to do it you must
“become” other characters
in the plot!
The best way to il-
lustrate this is with a cou-
ple of examples ... On the
bridge of the Heart of Gold,
you find a handbag con-
taining a pair of tweezers.
Later on you wake up at a
party and you are being
chatted up by Arthur Dent
(he who you just were)
from whom you get a very
important thing (V.I.T.)
which you put in your
handbag. Back in the
future, as Arthur Dent
again, you examine the
contents of the handbag on
the bridge of the H.O.G., on-
ly to discover that tweezers
have been joined by the
V.I.T.
As if that wasn’t enough,
how about being on board a
microscopic spaceship
heading into battle when
it’s swallowed by a dog!
Suddently, you remember a
dog yapping outside the
pub where you and Ford
went drinking six minutes
before the Earth was
destroyed. In fact, if you
have brought a cheese
sandwich from the pub and
fed it to the dog, this is
what would have happen-
ed: “The dog is deeply mov-
ed, With powerful sweeps
of its tail, it indicates that it
regards this cheese sand-
wich as one of the great
cheese sandwiches. Nine
out of ten pet owners could
happen by at this point ex-
pressing any preference
they pleased, but this dog
would spurn them and all
their tins. This is a dog
which has met its main
sandwich. It eats with pas-
sion, and ignores a passing
microscopic space fleet.”
This is just one example
of the detail and humour of
the text in Hitchhikers,
which will appeal to all
lovers of Adams as well as
more serious adventures
who will find enough
uzzles to keep them going
or months.
Hitchhikers is a bug-
free, highly interactive and
extrutiatingly funny
adventure. I’m convinced
it’s a major contribution to
mental derangement and
definitely worth buying a
disk drive for.
Hints and Tips
1. Consult the Guide about
anything and everything.
2. Don’t be shy.
3. Take everything you find
— all things are useful.
4. Alan Freeman?
5. You’ll need four objects
just to get the Babel fish.
6. Make use of such
prespositions as “under”,
“through” and “inside”
when using such verbs as
“look”.
7. There is no hint number
7.
8. Read every word of the
instruction manual and the
text that appears on screen
— both are riddled with
dues, and funny too!
9. Using your five senses
will get you out of many a
tricky situation.
10. Never be without your
towel.
g
|
COMPUTER GAMER JUNE 1Q88
WASHINGTON, DC
POST
D. 718 , 842 — S. 996,621
WASHINGTON D.C. METROPOLITAN AREA
LO
CO
02
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Page 37
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy —
Infocom
(Another Opinion)
Don 7 Panic!!
The folks at Infocom have done it again.
This rendition of that all-time favorite, The Hit-
chhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which, incidental-
ly, was written with the active assistance of
Douglas Adams, sets new heights of challenge
and frustration. A Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is
certainly in order before you play this one.
You (hereafter known as Arthur Dent) find
just getting out of your bedroom is a puzzler (I
watched a friend die here four times), never mind
getting off the planet! This game is one toughie
after another. I assure you that there was a time
when, judging from the phone calls coming in
and going out at my house, you would have
thought the entire country was engaged in a futile
struggle to stick a Babel fish in its collective ear.
Infocom has managed to retain the flavor of
the original while creating such new and different
problems that having read the book is no help at
all except in a very superficial way. The narrative
flow of the story and the sometimes hysterical,
sometimes merely witty responses to reasonable
and even not-so reasonable commands may lull
you into a comfortable feeling that this game is
just fun. Forget it. Be on your guard at all times.
Those twisted genius programmers will lead you
up every garden path in sight and frankly, they’ll
even lie to you sometimes.
I’m not going to attempt to give you the
story line . . . the joy is in the discovery. Let me
just advise you to pin on your Don’t Panic But-
ton (included), have the last cup of tea you’ll
have for quite a while, get your Joo Janta 200
Super-Chromatic Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses
(included) ready to blank out any visions of im-
pending danger, know where your towel is . . .
and have fun!
Mindy Skelton
EPYX FAST LOAD
•If you have a 1541, go get this cartridge.
For about $30 it makes loading three to five
times faster , gives you a file copy and backup
programs, and has a machine language monitor!
You can also use it to protect/unprotect files or
to issue disk commands. Mine seems to hang up
the system now and then but it is still a good buy.
Valerie
STUDIO 64
Very easy to use and has poweAr com-
parable to Master Composer or Sight & Sound’s
Music Processor. Does not work with the Sight
& Sound keyboard overlay. There is a nice com-
patible keyboard but good luck finding it!
Notes on the staff are edited using the cursor
keys to scroll back and forth, the delete key to
delete notes, and by typing to insert new notes.
Only one voice, however, is shown on the screen
at a time. To merge the music with your basic
programs, you need another package called Add
Mus’in
Valerie
Mindwheel — Synapse
When you think of the best in text adven-
tures, you think of Infocom. But now Infocom
has a challenger in Synapse’s latest release, Mind-
wheel. This is a very large all-text adventure that
takes place in the minds of four different people.
You must travel back in time in search of the
Wheel of Wisdom, by entering the minds of
others. The concept is unique, and the game is
intriguing.
Synapse obviously decided to go “first
class” on this one. The game takes a total of
three disks, and also includes a hard-back book
of over 100 pages. The book gets the story
started, and then the game takes over. The parser
is quite advanced; it allows you to type in long
and complicated sentences. The story is by a pro-
fessional writer and award-winning poet. It all
adds up to a top notch text adventure that stands
next to the best of interactive fiction.
John Olsen
DISKS “
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TELEKINETIC TYPING
Heynen models special goggles
that allow the handicapped to
type just by looking at letters
displayed in the view below.
Computers have done won-
ders for the handicapped—
particularly victims of paraly-
sis. With no more power of
movement than the ability to
speak or nod their heads, they
can use a computer to tap out
messages, control a television
set, or drive a motorized
wheelchair. But what about
the more severely paralyzed?
To help such people, two sci-
entists at Bell Northern Re-
search, the research arm of
the Canadian telephone sys-
tem, have developed a device
that permits them to type
merely by moving their eyes.
The hands-free typewriter in-
vented by David Kahn and Jan
Heynen looks like a pair of
welding goggles. When some-
one puts the glasses on, he
sees in one eye an array that
duplicates the keys on a stan-
dard typewriter. As he looks
at this array, a beam of infra-
red light bounces off his eye
onto an optical sensor. With
the aid of a small computer,
the sensor indicates which let-
ter the eye is looking at.
To type, the person simply
focuses on one letter at a time,
holding his gaze steady for a
second or so (the time can be
set by the wearer) to signal
which letter he wants typed.
He focuses on other "keys” to
space backward or forward,
erase what he has written, or
turn the device on and off.
Says Heynen, "It is the closest
thing yet to telekinesis [mov-
ing objects with the mind].”
In October the eyeglasses
were tested by a 16-year-old
girl paralyzed by cerebral pal-
sy. After some adjustments to
keep the glasses from slipping
down her nose, she learned to
type a sequence of letters.
Said one of the girl’s teachers
at the Ottawa Crippled Chil-
dren’s Treatment Centre,
"We all started jumping up
and down.”
Associates of Heynen and
Kahn are organizing a non-
profit company to market the
glasses, beginning next year
(price: about $600 each). They
are already working on a way
to connect the hands-free type-
writer to a portable voice syn-
thesizer so that the wearer can
"talk” in an artificial voice. It
will give new meaning to the
old notion that the eyes speak.
STAYING
AFLOAT
Two old sea dogs and an elec-
tronics company have built a
computer to battle an ancient
paradox of the sea: sometimes
the more stable a boat feels,
the more likely it is to tip over.
The reason has to do with
physics. If, say, a vessel heels
over to starboard (to the right,
landlubbers), its center of
buoyancy— the theoretical
point inside the ship where the
water’s support seems to be
concentrated— also moves to
starboard. The result is that
the buoyancy applies a "right-
ing force,” which tends to roll
the hull back upright.
But if a vessel is top-heavy,
or if its cargo is not battened
down, the righting force may
have trouble pushing the boat
up. As the imbalance worsens,
| the rolling becomes slower
and the boat may capsize.
"That is why a boat that rolls
j back and forth quickly is sta-
ble, while a boat that has a
gentle roll— where the food
stays on the table— may be in
trouble,” says Dennis Soder-
berg of Western Marine Elec-
tronics near Seattle.
To help shaky mariners,
Western Marine has designed
a $4,800 Stability Computer
that sounds a warning if a
boat seems in danger of cap-
sizing. The device keeps a run-
ning average of the last 150 or
! so rolls (registering apd tim-
ing them automatically with a
tilt-sensor and clock, and stor-
! ing the results in its memory).
It uses a standard maritime
formula to calculate the boat’s
stability, and rings the alarm
if the rating drops below a
pre-set value. Then, says So-
derberg, "the captain can re-
arrange the cargo, or inspect
the bilges to make sure he’s
not taking on water.” Adds
Tom Casey, the fishing-boat
skipper who invented the de-
vice with oilboat captain Miles
Rice, "Given just a little bit of
time, a guy can usually bail
himself out of trouble.”
A tour of the universe from the
controls of a personal computer
COSMIC
HITCHHIKING
In Douglas Adams’s book The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal-
axy, Englishman Arthur Dent
is swept up by a passing star-
: ship just before the earth is de-
molished to make way for an
intergalactic freeway. Dent’s
travels through Adams’s man-
ic universe attracted a loyal
following to the 1979 book of
offbeat humor.
Now Adams has joined the
list of science fiction authors
(including Arthur C. Clarke
and Robert Heinlein) whose
novels have been turned into
the computer game form
known as interactive fiction
; (Discover, March). In the
game ($39.95, by Infocom, of
Cambridge, Massachusetts),
the user assumes the role of
Dent and conducts a dialogue
with the terminal in order to
work slowly through a maze-
like plot.
Adams and programmer
Steven Meretzky have pre-
served some of the book’s dry
wit: when Dent wakes up with
a hangover, the computer ob-
serves, "Good start to the day.
Pity it’s going to be the worst
of your life.” But the wit
wears thin with constant repe-
tition in the plot’s many blind
alleys. The authors of interac-
tive fiction need to expand
their universes, so to speak, to
make this genre more than a
glorified Adventure game.
i *r?
86
DISCOVER / DECEMBER 1984
fat/fHk
■ 4RMM
i among thousands of applicants, you are
the few selected to qualify for “The
. Project , a top-secret deep space
exploration program. Completing each of ten
qualification/training missions advances you
one rank, beginning with “Raven**, then
“Shrike”, all the way through the exalted
designation “Starbird ”. Should you prove to
be one of the elite, the project and the galaxy
are yours!
Each mission begins with launch from a
secret base on the comet and ends when you
return having met all objectives. (‘Land on any
planet warmer than Callisto”, ‘land on any
moon smaller than Titan” are typical
objectives.) While it is only necessary to
complete a mission to advance, each is timed:
along with each player’s record, best mission
times are maintained on disk.
The Halley Project incorporates a twelve-
constellation star map (showing bodies of 6th
magnitude or brighter) and a remarkably
accurate “real time” model of the solar system.
Except for loss of the console screen view (star
map) during hyperspace jumps, the model
appears to operate in all aspects of play
including the zoomable (‘radar”) display of the
solar system. Planets and moons revolve,
rotate, and actually change size depending on
distance.
Complete down to a cockpit view of terrain
when you land and a briefing tape.
The Halley Project has it all. Boot the disk, start
the tape, douse the lights, and get set for a
fantastic gaming experience.
Available from: Mindscape, 3444 Dundee
Road, Northbrook, 1L 60062. (312) 552-6922
Cost: $44.95
GRFX S.M. PLAY DIFF INTR GAME
09 10 08 06 09 10
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galax
(Text Adventure)
Compatible: 48K Apple ][ Plus, //e, // c
Requirements: One disk drive
It’s bad enough when your home is on the
Demolition Department’s Top Ten, but what
do you do when a new interstellar bypass means
the demolition of your planet? You hitch a ride
on the nearest Vogon spaceship, of course.
Based on the best-selling novel. Hitchhiker’s
Guide To The Galaxy quickly diverges into a
kind of open-ended adventure which you win
by accumulating all 400 game points.
Accompanied by the eccentric alien. Ford
Prefect, your odyssey includes encounters with
the notorious Bugblatter Beast of Traal,
personality switches, lessons in poetry
appreciation, and a real braintwister of a maze.
Incorporating Infocom’s excellent parsing,
Hitchhiker’s Guide is often entertaining but
Prepare for a close-up of area
often frustrating as well. While the occasional
requirement that a command be repeated several
times enhances the atmosphere of hapless
wandering, it also makes solution testing
unnecessarily tiresome. Documentation and
support trinkets set a new quality standard, but
all the fluff in Aurthur Dent’s pockets won’t
save this one.
(Picture/Text Adventure)
Compatible: 48K Apple ][ Plus, //e, //c
Requirements: One disk drive
Available from: lnfocom, 125 Cambridge
Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140. (617)
492-1031. Cost: $39.95
When King Louis d ’Gamma discovered his
castle would soon fall to treacherous retainers,
he hid his treasure as well as clues to its
whereabouts and a ma^ic lantern. Since the
traitors were no good at either puzzles or math,
the legendary hoard remains to this day,
unclaimed and waiting for someone like you to
solve the ancient mystery.
GRFX S.M. PLAY DIFF INTR GAME
NA 10 08 09 04 05
jalaxvx
T
Lantern of D’ Gamma
Lantern of D ’Gamma is intended as a fun
way to involve young adventurers in using
middle school math skills. While the interesting
worksheets may help, the game is more likely
to produce a bumper crop of English majors,
all dedicated to writing better computer
adventures. Aside from weak parsing, there are
numerous fatal traps and no provisions for
saving a game. (I typed in “SAVE” at one point
and the game simply bombed.)
Hopefully, Lantern will be recalled before
it puts out too many lights.
Available from: Milliken Publishing Co.,
P.O. Box 21579, St. Louis, MO 63132-0579.
(3 14)-99 1-4220. Cost : $34.95
GRFX S.M. PLAY DIFF INTR GAME/ED
07 07 02 08 07 03 /03
22
COMPUTIST No. 27
<33
LAKELAND, FL
LEDGER
"Once a preppy, always a preppy ,
but at least Gaines is working
D. 58,474— S. 67,630
LAKELAND-WINTER HAVEN METRO AP
OCT 20 1984
He was Valerie Bertinelli’s preppy dentist husband on
CBS’s “One Day at a Time.” He’s a 1930s preppy in “Ever-
green,” a forthcoming NBC mini-series based on Belva
Plain’s best seller. And now he’s a prep-gone-to-seed in
“Oliver Oliver,” the Paul Osborn comedy running
through Oct. 28 at the Annenberg Center’s Zellerbach
Theater in Philadelphia. Is somebody trying to tell you
something, Boyd Gaines? “No one’s likely to cast me as
an Armenian,” says Gaines, 31, an Atlanta native who at-
tended 12 grade schools as his father, a sales manager,
changed jobs. “I’m not a preppy, even though I may look
like one. My existence is a bit more bohemian than that.”
Gaines considers himself a stage actor, although he is rec-
ognized more for his TV work. Comparing the arenas, he
says: “It saddens me that TV isn’t more ambitious in
terms of content, but it’s appealing to a very large audi-
ence. Fewer people see the run of a Broadway hit than see
one episode of a sitcom.”
-British rocker John Waite makes his acting debut this
Reason in three episodes of ABC’s “Paper Dolls.” Playing
himself, Waite will be the romantic interest for super-
teen model Taryn Blake (Nicolette Sheridan) in addi-
ction to performing four songs from his hit album “No
Brakes.”
Scott BaiO of “Charles in Charge” is keeping the new
CBS series all in the family. His father, Mario, has signed
to play a college professor in a coming episode.
Frances Bergen has joined her daughter Candice in
the cast of ABC’s “Hollywood Wives” as the wife of
George Lancaster (played by Robert Stack.)
“The Cosby Show,” NBC’s new hit sitcom, has under-
gone a major change in its writing staff. The series came
under fire recently when it was revealed that it employed
no black writers. The New York-based show has rectified
that situation by hiring Matt Robinson, whose credits in-
clude “The Jeffersons” and “The Waltons.”
TIPOFF
NBC source said, giving no reason for Hendren’s dismiss-,
al. Whatever he did, it was not considered crucial by NBC
News. There will be no replacement appointed. Hendren’s
last day on “Today” was Sept. 28.
♦
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the d^
lightful Douglas Adams fantasy that has spawned a re-
cord album, a radio show, a TV mini-series and a best-
selling trilogy, is about to conquer another medium:
computersRnfoooiUvthe company behind Zork, Dead-
line” and severalother “interactive fiction” text-adven-
ture computer games, will release an adventure version
of “Hitchhiker” Nov. 1 (retail price: $39.95). The plot line,
which players can manipulate by controlling the central
character, Arthur Dent, is co-authored by Adams and
Steve Meretzky, author of Infocom’s “PlanetfaH” and
“Sorcerer.”
Ron Hendren, whose contract option as co-host for the
syndicated “Entertainment Tonight” was not renewed,
has received his second pink slip in two weeks. NBC’s
“Today,” on which he served as West Coast entertainment
editor, has let him go also. “When it rains, it pours,” one
/\
Tipoff items are acquired from the following national
columnists: Marilyn Beck, Shirley Eder, Liz Smith and
Suzy.
ANNISTON, AL.
STAR
D. 32,500 — S. 33,200
ANNISTON METROPOLITAN AREA
OCT 2 0 1984
j.
Computerized galaxy
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the
delightful Douglas Adams fantasy that has spawned
a record album, a radio show, a TV mini-series and
a best-selling trilogy, is about to conquer another
medium: computers.
/ Infocbm , the company behind “Zork,” “Dead-
line” and several other “interactive fiction” text-
adventure computer games, will release an adven
ture version of “Hitchhiker” Nov. 1 (retail price
$39.95).
The plot line, which players can manipulate by
controlling the central character, Arthur Dent, is co-
authored by Adams and Steve Meretzky, author o<
Infocom’s “PlanetfaH” and “Sorcerer.”
Section
THE PROVIDENCE
JOURNAL-BULLETIN
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16,
1985
Computer games,
and players, have
no respect for you
Gayle
Gertler
Mark Patinkin's column will resume
soon. Until then, it will be shared
among other Journal-Bulletin writers.
I rue the day I found, next to the
computer terminal provided for me
by the Journal-Bulletin, a seeming-
ly innocuous little disk marked
“Zork."
It turned out to be a computer
game, and I approached it with
confidence.
I had nothing but good memories
of games, all the way from Candy-
land to T ri vial Pursuit. I’m a terror
in front of a game board, so much
so that people Who say they like
my company otherwise refuse to
join me when I seat myself in front
of a cardboard square.
That’s because my mind is like
flypaper when it comes to retaining
little bits of useless information. I
know who played “Topper” on the
TV show of the same name, even
though its heyday coincided with
my infancy. I know the capital of
South Dakota. I know the names of
Henry VIII’s six wives.
Computer games, it turns out,
call for other skills.
★ * *
THE FIRST TIME I met the troll,
a very one-sided battle ensued. , One
swipe from his bloody ax and I was
decapitated. I asked the computer
about my health. The answer came
back. Unequivocal. I was dead.
This was a new wrinkle. In the
games I’m used to, you can lose, but
you can’t die.
The second time I met the troll, I
was warier. 1 swung at him with
my sword, stunning him. Elated, I
opted for mercy. (“Go around
troll," I instructed the computer.)
He shook off his stupor and swung
at me with his bloody ax. (“The flat
of the troll’s ax hits you delicately
on the head, knocking you out.”)
Diagnosis: Dead.
The third time I met the troll —
he’s very hard to avoid — I had
shed all illusions. I hacked at him
with my sword, giving no quarter
when he fell, wounded. The troll
expired in a fetid brown mist, leav-
ing me his ax.
Was the object of this game to
kill every creature who came my
way? I needn’t have worried. A
few moves later, I was stuck in a
room rapidly filling with water.
The object, it seems, is not to kill.
The object is to not be killed.
Shortly after realizing that, I
drowned.
★ ★ ★
THERE IS, I know, enough room
for failure in life without failing at
games. There is surely no need to
seek more violence, no matter how
bloodless these computer games
make death. Zork, I decided, wasn’t
for me.
For a while, I would lie awake
nights wondering who killed Ve-
ronica.
The game is called “Suspect," its
object is to figure out which of a
dozen costumed characters did in
Veronica, and I switched to it be-
cause I thought various skills built
up over the years as a reporter
would help me zero in on the cul-
prit.
I didn’t realize when I started
that once again I’d be dealing with
corpses.
After several tries, during which
I wandered around Veronica’s
mansion interviewing people
dressed as vampires and astro-
nauts, the only thing I had managed
to do was get arrested. I had also
realized another drawback to these
games.
The computer doesn’t let a dumb
move pass without sarcasm.
At least, in board games, the oth-
er players try not to snicker. Some-
one might smile when you land on
Broadway, complete with red plas-
tic hotel, for the third time, but
people generally don’t laugh out-
right. It’s considered bad form.
The computer has no such scru-
ples.
Locked out of Veronica’s man-
sion, the burglar alarm I had inad-
vertently triggered in the garage
ringing madly, I hit a glass door in
frustration. I knew I was once
again only a few moves away from
being handcuffed by police.
“Trying for another B&E, eh?”
sneered the computer. “Your hand
stings something fierce now!”
To injury, add insult.
★ ★ *
MY INTEREST in Veronica’s
death evaporated quickly. I
thought I’d try exploring a planet
or two, via a game called “The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.”
This time, I died only a time or two
before figuring out how to leave
Earth.
Then, as I sort of expected, I got
stuck. I was in the hold of a Vogon
ship at the time, reduced to kicking
a machine that dispensed things
called babelfish. In order to under-
stand the Vogon voice coming over
the PA system, I had to catch a ba-
belfish and use it as a translator. ’
Unfortunately, I couldn't get hold
of a babelfish. The dispenser dis-
pensed them, but then they disap-
peared through a hole in the wall.
I sought human help. Turns out
computer games bring out the
worst in people.
“Figure it out yourself,” said a
friend known to spend hours upon
hours racking up huge scores in
computer games. Ordinarily the
most helpful of humans, he had the
air of one who had unearthed great
secrets and had no intention of
sharing them. “The satisfaction of
these games is the torture they give
you."
Well, I beg to differ. From now
on, if I want to be tortured. I’ll pick
up the Sunday New York Times
crossword puzzle. I may embarrass
myself, but unless things have
changed, it won’t be fatal.
m
BILLBOARD
HEW YORK, N.Y.
W. 45,379
Do Women
Compute?
By FAYE ZUCKERMAN
Chopping the Consumer Elec-
tronics Showroom floor, this time
around promises to reveal yet an-
other year when computer soft-
ware takes a high profile. But for
the surviving computer firms of a
near lethal shakeout, this year they
are placing more emphasis on mar-
keting than ever before. The fledg-
ling high technology program mak-
ers are showing a new concern for
promoting product as well as turn-
ing out quality innovations.
Additionally, computer software
for 1985 will span a wide array of
subject matter, from serious home
banking programs to free-wheeling
trivial pursuit video games. Even
pro-social computer software is be-
coming popular.
Consider Rhiannon Software/
Adventure Stories for girls only.
The series of computer programs
by Addison-Wesley is designed to
teach girls seven to 1 2 basic com-
puter skills to keep them up on
technological possibilities.
"The computer revolution is
breeding new generations of in-
equality in education— and girls
are the ones being left behind,”
notes Jessica Kersey, a spokes-
woman for the computer software
developed by counseling psycholo-
gist Elizabeth Stott and program-
- mer Lucy Ewell. "Experts agree
hat currently existing software
.earning games are male oriented."
How do these entertainment pro-
grams differ from the ones suppos-
edly geared for males? According
to Kersey, the adventure games fo-
cus on women heros. "They fea-
ture smart, self-sufficient girls who
are determined to survive in often
hostile environments."
For example, in one title, “Jenny
Of The Prairie," a girl becomes
separated from a wagon-train in
the year 1 842. The adventure cen-
ters on Jenny's attempt to survive
in the wilderness. Other girl-related
computer programs include “Cave
Girl Clair," "Chelsea Of The South
Seas Islands," and "Lauren Of The
25th Century."
And while Addison-Wesley fea-
tures its female-oriented packages.
Mindscape, a subsidiary of the
100-year-old textbook publisher
SFN Companies, will be featuring a
greatly broadened product spec-
trum for a target audience 4 years
of age and up. The Illinois high
technology concern publishes four
lines of educational/entertainment
home computer software:
"Sprout," products geared toward
early learners; “Pixelwerks," pro-
grams for children eight and older;
"Alert,” high-level entertainment
packages for teen-agers; and "Fo-
lio,” a series of home productivity
and utility programs.
One of Mindscape’s most inter-
esting products is "Indiana Jones
In The Lost Kingdom," in which
challengers control Indiana Jones
who is appropriately equipped with
his trusty whip. Another notewor-
thy title is "Mr. Pixel's Program-
ming Paint Set," which allows
youngsters to draw on the comput-
er screen. Also, the firm's flagship
oducts are based around chil-
en’s book author Mercer Mayer's
Fonk characters. The firm will be
featuring "Tonk In The Land Of
Buddy-Bots" at a suggested retail
price of $34.95.
( Continued on page CES15)
\
CES3
Do Women
Compute?
(Continued from page CESS)
‘The computer revo-
lution is breeding
new generations of
inequality in educa-
tion and girls are the
ones being left be-
hind. Experts agree
that currently exist-
ing software learning
games are male ori-
ented. (Adventure
games focusing on
women heroes) fea-
ture smart, self-suffi-
cient girls who are
determined to sur-
vive in often hostile
environments.’
Music composition programs for
microcomputers will also take cen-
ter stage at the Consumer Elec-
tronic Show. Hayden already has
announced an innovative package
for Apple’s Macintosh; Broderbund
is hoping to get a spotlight on its
“The Music Shop." Additionally,
look for Mindscape's “Bank Street
Music Writer," a composition tool
that allows for music to be edited
in three or four voices. As for
Broderbund's "The Music Shop," a
spokeswoman for the firm explains
th 3 t "until now, music programs ei-
ther had a lot of capabilities, but
were intimidating to beginners, or
they were too entertaining, and an
accomplished musician wouldn't
take them seriously."
The firm is hoping that its music
composition programs will service
"both worlds." The software lets
users create, store and edit com-
positions as well as print out sheet
music. Cathy Carlston of Broder-
bund says that the firm will be of-
fering purchasers of the music pro-
gram a free harmonica.
Additionally, the computer soft-
ware concern will be featuring its
highly popular " The Print Shop."
which garnered 30,000-plus sales
figures for 1984's fourth quarter.
The top-rated "Lode Runner" for
the Macintosh will also be launched
during the electronics show.
Video games will also have a
presence on the show floor. Activi-
sion's exhibit will focus on Apple II
versions for Pitfall II: Lost Cav-
erns." "Space Shuttle," "HERO,"
“The Designer's Pencil," "The
Tracer Sanction” and "Mindsha-
dow." Entertainment software
maker Datasoft will be showing
"Mr. Do" for Atari, Apple and Com-
modore computers. The arcade
classic is said to have some 99 lev-
els and about 10 screens.
Probably the show-stopper this
year will be Infocom's “The Hitch-
hiker's Guide To The Galaxy," a
text adventure based on Douglas
Adams' novel. Steve Meretzkey,
best known for "Planetfall.”
worked closely with Adams to de-
velop software that lets users "tour
the universe."
In addition tcj Infocom's high-lev-
el adventures. Synapse software
will be introducing what it calls
"Electronic Novels." These novels
are said to be computer software
programs packaged with books
that set the scene and story line, in-
troduce characters and provide in-
formation related to solving the ac-
companying computer program.
Another line of adventure-style
computer games is based on the
books "Chronicles of Narnia" and
include two titles, "Narnia" and
"Dawntreader." A copy of the ap-
propriate book is included in the
package published by Chicago's
Lifeware.
According to author Paul Gruen,
"'Narnia' and Dawntreader’ are
computer games which are the
most like family board games as
they were designed by me, and I
specialize in board games,” he
says. “Hence, I tried to make them
vehicles for human interaction. In
the 'Narnia' games, there are fre-
quent breaks so players can stop
to interact and talk over strategy."
Former video game maker Ima-
gic will roll out interactive fiction ti-
tles as well. One, "Another Bowl,"
is a detective game featuring Sher-
lock Holmes and Dr. Watson. An-
other, "The Computer Adventure,"
is an adaptation of William Shake-
speare's "Macbeth," whereby the
player tries to determine if Mac-
beth is a murderer or hero. Finally,
Imagic will introduce "Time Travel-
er" based on H.G. Wells "The Time
Machine."
Not only entertainment software
firms will underscore the mam-
moth electronics event, education-
al software offerings are being
planned and will feature several
programs destined for industry
best-seller lists. Spinnaker Soft-
ware is planning to show 20-plus
new programs based on its various
lines of brand-named software. ! ts
Trillium series of interactive fiction
will be highlighted.
Furthermore, Scholastic Soft-
ware plans to heavily promote Guy
Nouri's “Operation Frog." and its
series of educational progiams
themed around the top-selling PFS
series of computer programs from
Software Publishing.
Other educational programs
slated for roll outs at the show in-
clude Scarborough Systems'
"Build-a-Book," Davidson & Asso-
ciates' "Spell It!" and CBS Soft-
ware's "Keys To Responsible Driv-
ing." as well as “Ducks Ahoy," a
math learning game by Joyce Ha-
kansson & Associates.
Avant-Garde, which recently ac-
quired HESware, will be featuring a
series of educational products. Its
popular "The Magic Cash Regis-
ter" is one of the few computer
programs to teach youngsters
about money. Additionally, the firm
will be showing "Word Scrambler
And Spelling Tutor," a program de-
signed to teach basic word skills.
In addition to educational titles,
the Eugene, Ore. company offers
home office and personal produc-
tivity software. Of interest is its
“Architectural Design” package
which aids users in making basic
floor plans, interior designs and
landscape planning. Two other per-
sonal productivity programs from
Avant Garde, "Be Your Own
Coach" and “An Apple A Day . . .
focus on developing health skills.
"Be Your Own Coach" was devel-
oped by several world class run-
ners including Alberto Salazar,
Mary Decker and Joaquim Cruz. As
for “An Apple A Day ..." it is a fil-
ing system for medical records. It
can keep track of insurance poli-
cies, health-related tax deductions,
and physician visits.
Other personal development
computer programs expected to
take a high profile includes Simon
& Schuster's "Typing Tutor III," an
advanced typing instruction pack-
age. Because of the ability to moni-
tor time response, the typing pack-
age, designed by Kriya Systems,
can create customized lessons for
an individual's learning needs, the
New York firm says.
Warner Software Inc. will be re-
leasing the Apple Macintosh ver-
sion of its “Desk Organizer" for
$149. The program allows users
to file, dial telephone numbers, re-
trieve telephone messages, insert
access codes, calculates on screen
and contains a calendar. Addition-
ally, Macintosh's alarm clock is tied
to the calendar.
Other companies focusing on
the home management area in-
clude Practicorp., Monogram, Fu-
turehouse, MECA ar.d Grolier Elec-
tronic Publishing. Look for Option-
ware to rollout "Tax Projection"
and "Preparation Multi Pack" that
runs with the popular Lotus 1-2-3.
Arr ays Inc. /Continental Soft-
ware has started shipping its long-
awaited “Get Rich: Strategies Vol.
1" for the Commodore Atari, IBM
and Apple computers.
\
l
Parker Bros.’ Q-Bert's Cubes Is coming In February for the Atari 2600, Co-
leeo. Commodore 64, Atari Computers, Apple U and IBM PC and Jr.
*■ V/ Km/
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d «P" d a budg-
ter Beast of T ^Z^ZThTZT'
able fromTnfocin* :h,' e0 9ame: Av 'ail-
the same namJ a ihelnte^r game 01
where it nub? 6 Inter active kind,
W In'wC JK Tanttd " 00 3nd you
“Drink the Pab-r-o? * f d next ’ ,j ke
,ut don't swal^w th^swizzle luc^y^’
llaTeX^ SpQCe and -cumu U
•beX 8 re"Iter| a cTm' e H‘ 3b ° Ul S39 ’ 95 ^
••H/a » AIari » Commodore and IBM
spoof forthosTn?.T f "■ Tony - " It,s a big
If y„ u nT bf ,“f r Wh0 know 'be book.”
-1 iry 10 follow the hOAk’c rdlev* f
S n c e yo
S‘o e S WaS m ^e^f„^,a^
biid a'i“ V " J ve be3 ‘ ybub
room on an alien sdvaT^ t0 8et out a
'te;a y . we l ie P d a^the^t”* ^
Playing the^ame^Jon 3 ' nCky P °' nt whlle
spend anothefwVr 0 ^ S h Exp «‘ '
also said there’s a hL f b ' book ’ He
game that — yes — a d . s . U8gest,on in the
the works Y anof her sequel is in
H k X^ be b “ k r sGaide ••••
► c -» ,s r Pore or less infinite,
— CS Johnson, staff £drthkng
Sjfutdfy;
Journal:
Date:
PUNCH January 2 1985
PRESS
CUTTINGS
Burgess & Company
jfitn®'
DATABASE
You did it, didn't you? Go on, admit.
You held out until Christmas Eve
and then it was wham, down to Tot-
tenham Court Road or Holbom or
somewhere and shelling out far
more than you can afford on some
horrible little box of tricks which
you don't understand and don't
even know what to do with, and no-
body has told you anything about it
or what it can do. Somehow your
children are capable of just turning
the bloody thing on and going at it
blindly, and the irritating thing is
that they cam actually make it work,
whereas you are still sitting there
with the manual, trying to work out
just what the hell it means, while
your eyes bubble amd your lips dry
out and your wife nags at you to
come to bed.
You know why, of course, don't
you? Yes . . . they're taught about
the things at school. It’s a sort of
generation gap. You can't be ex-
pected to understand. It’s an apti-
tude. Young people leam more eas-
ily. And so on.
Rubbish! The fact is that you are
scared of the thing. You were
brought up in the days when com-
puters were colossal, humming go-
lems stuck away in airconditioned
rooms with acolytes who possessed
the secret scroll, and if anything
went wrong it would be the end of
the world, Armageddon, boiling
metal all over the place and a six-
figure gas bill.
Well now. What can this column
do to help you overcome this aver-
sion? I suppose we could strap you
into a chair and flash pictures of na-
ked computers at you while inter-
fering with your person, just like the
psychiatrists think it’s clever to do
with child molesters and homosex-
uals; but judging by the psychia-
trists’ success rate, I think that’s a
bad idea.
Alternatively, we can show you
that the things are (a) harmless, (b)
stupid, (c) almost indestructible, (d)
useful and (e) fun.
Starting at the beginning. Com-
puters are harmless. That's all that
need be said. You can’t actually
physically blow the thing up, and
unless you unbolt the lid and poke
about inside you are perfectly safe.
If you do take the lid off, you may be
in trouble; they are full of things
which retain a very high voltage,
even when switched off, and which
can kill you. Frankly, it's up to you,
but if you think anyone will miss
you, you've another think coming, I
don't know what’s happened to us,
ever since the children came along
you’ve gone to pieces, what sort of a
father are you anyway?, and anoth-
er thing, you can’t make a decision,
my God sometimes I lie awake at
night . . .
Sorry. Next. "Stupid”. Yes,
they're stupid all right. Can’t do a
damn thing on their own. Just like
some people. Honestly 1 don t know
why I married you, if it wasn't for me
you’d . . . Sorry again. It’s been a
rough Christmas, what with one
thing and another, but my God 1
can’t take much more of your
bloody nagging.
As well as being stupid, they are
almost indestructible. This is where
a lot of people go wrong. They hov-
er on the edge, not daring just to
arse about with the thing, when that
is, in fact, the best way to do it. Be-
lieve me. I know. The amount of soft-
ware that comes through my hands
is moderately prodigious, if you see
what I mean, and when I hear of
people spending a year learning to
use some lousy word processor or
integrated package I could scream,
it’s all so silly and pointless. The
great Database recommendation on
this point is, when you have a piece
of software you don't know about,
bung it in the slot and start to play
about. Modem software is so well-
tested that the chances of an igno-
rant user actually being able to
crash the program is pretty well nil.
In the old days (= 1982) you could
actually destroy the program you’d
just spent £350 on by doing some-
thing silly like pressing the wrong
key at the wrong time. Now all you'd
do, if you stick to decent, well-
known software, is bugger up your
data. And since that will be joke
data, at least until you've got the
hang of things, it doesn't matter.
Does it?
You can leam more about a piece
of software by playing with it for an
hour than by sweating through the
manuals for a fortnight. That's the
new trend, of course, and that’s why
things like the Macintosh software
manuals are as skinny as I'll-go-to-
our-house, as they used to say in
Ilkeston, where I don't actually
come from but where I went once, to
visit a nice chap called Blomfield
who knew all about that sort of thing.
What sort of thing? Mind your own
business.
Next point. Usefulness. You won’t
get the faintest idea of what you can
use machines for from the majority
of salesmen. They simply don’t
know. The standard of the computer
retail trade is staggeringly awful on
the whole , and while you expect stu-
pidity from the alien monoglots up
the Tottenham Court Road who only
know what's written on the shipping
carton and what their commission
is, you expect something better
from a specialist shop.
You won't get it. I did a check the
other day and the ignorance was
awesome. Half of them didn’t know
anything about the hardware even,
and that's where they make their
money. And as for software, which
is, after all, the stuff that makes the
machines useful, you might as well
forget it and stick to what you read
here, unless you fancy wading
through the awful jargon-laden
computer magazines which tell you
that function key 10 returns you to
the main menu, but don’t tell you
why you might like to spend money
on die program in the first place.
The thing is, 1 suppose, that soft-
ware is damned expensive to carry
a lot of, and unless you are a smart-
Alec like me, it's difficult to leam
two or three new packages a week,
which is ideally what salesmen
would do. There are noble excep-
tions, of course, and 1 hope to reveal
them to you as and when 1 track them
down over the coming months.
Finally, fun. If 1 were recommend-
ing one piece of software to get
someone across the mental leap into
computing, I would suggest the ut-
terly pointless, utterly absorbing
“interactive fiction” published by a
marvellous American firm called
Infocom. I've already talked about
Zork, a series of three monster sto-
ries in which you play the adventur-
er and the program plays the other
characters. Now they've come up
with another marvellous thing, this
time an interactive version of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
based on the book by Douglas Ad-
ams, who kindly sent me a copy. It's
a masterpiece. Hilarious. Adams
has done a marvellous j ob . And next
time I see him, I’ll kill him. I’ve so far
managed to get into the hold of the
Vogon Constructor ship, but can I
get a babel fish out of the dispenser
to stick in my ear so that I can under-
stand the cryptic messages which
come out of my space ship's inter-
com? Can I buggery. So if anyone
knows the answer to that, or indeed
what you say to the screening door
when it demands a tiny sign of intel-
ligence before it will reconsider its
decision, I’ll pay them five pounds.
But honestly, a few hours (it'll
seem like years) with Hitchhiker
will teach you more about the way
the computer works than all the ner-
vous manual-reading in the world.
There's also another marvellous
one called Suspect, where you are
a journalist who, at a fancy-dress
party, becomes suspected of a mur-
der. I am still in the preliminary
stages of working out what the hell
is going on, but I can tell you it's fun.
Infocom are actually sods; I wanted
to review a number of their other
stories, like Enchanter, where you
fight an Evil Warlock, and Cut-
throats, where you are a diver try-
ing to get at a shipwreck, and Sus-
pended, where you are frozen in,
um, thingy, suspended thingy, ani-
mation, but they didn’t give them to
me. But they will, and I'll tell you all
about them presently. If they are
anything like Zork and Hitchhiker,
then they are knockout, around £35-
£50, and worth every penny.
'*■ ' *r
3S£*^2^‘'43&j?V aj
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33
► MAC C AND MAC C
TOOLKIT
A C compiler for the Mac-
intosh, Mac C is fully inte-
grated with the editor,
assembler, debugger, and
linker of the Macintosh
68000 Development Sys-
tem. The Mac C Toolkit
provides C interfaces to
standard Macintosh files
such as dialogs and desk ac-
cessories.
Mac C allows access to
450 Macintosh system calls
and compiles 1600 lines of
code per minute. The Mac-
intosh 68000 Development
System is required for use
of the Mac C and Mac C
Toolkit. (List Price: Mac C.
$ 295: Mac C Toolkit, $175)
Requires: Macintosh
Consulair Corporation
140 Campo Drive
Portola Valley, CA 94025
(415) 851-3849
CIRCLE READER SERVICE NO 932
33 33
► TIMEBASE
An integrated program for
the Macintosh, TimeBase
makes use of overlapping
windows to provide five
business features — time
management, information
management, centraliza-
tion, forms and letters, and
TMP (tracking, maintain-
ing, and planning) — on a
single disk. You can use the
program with other Macin-
tosh programs, such as word
processors, databases,
spreadsheets, and account-
ing programs. You use the
mouse to generate com-
mands and functions, and
the keyboard for data entry.
(List Price: $ 149.95 )
Requires: Macintosh or
Lisa (under MacWorks)
SoftDesign
14145 S.W. 142 Avenue
P.O. Box 161377
Miami, FL 33186
(305) 253-5521
CIRCLE READER SERVICE NO 933
□
SIMS
► THE HITCHHIKER’S
GUIDE TO THE
GALAXY
Written by Douglas
Adams, the author of the
book of the same name, and
Infocom’s Steve Meretzky,
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy is an interactive
science-fiction game. The
first part of the game fol-
lows the book’s story line:
You are Arthur Dent, a
hapless earthling whose
house is about to be de-
stroyed by bulldozers. Un-
known to you, plans are
afoot for the destruction of
the entire planet, but your
friend Ford Prefect helps
you escape by hitching a
ride on a Vogon flagship.
Once you are aboard the
flagship, you find the char-
acters and locations of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide appear-
ing in a variety of misadven-
tures that Adams has
written expressly for the
game. (List Price: $39.95)
Requires: Apple II, II Plus,
lie, or Me
Infocom, Inc.
55 Wheeler Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-1031
CIRCLE READER SERVICE NO. 934
THE PRIME PLOTTER
The Graphics/ Statistics Package
FOR the APPLE II + / lie
Praise Our Own Product? The Reviewers Have Done It For Us! *
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PR l c I 39 3
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a
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graphics package you’d expect to find
on a mainframe computer." “Once
mastered, there is no plotting package
that is quite this versatile and powerful.’
Gregory MacNicol
InfoWorld September 5, 1983
"The Prime Plotter contains more power
than any graphing package I have used.”
“It can do many things not found in other
packages; I know of no competing
program which can do as much!”
David Morganstein
Washington Apple Pi May 1983
The Prime Plotter $240
Demo disk, refundable $ 15
Manual. 2nd edition, enhanced.
for 1st edition users only $15
"The Prime Plotter is a surprisingly complete plotting
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make the product the most powerful plotting package the
reviewer has seen The product is superb for creating
Slide-show' presentations of generic data.”
Chris Williams
MICRO August 1983
Plotter Interfaces:
STROBE 100 200 $60
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HIPL0T DMP-40, DMP-29 $75
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"Prime Plotter is a carefully conceived,
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SOFTALK September 1983
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PEELINGS II Rating
The Prime Plotter
A t-
Apple II Business Graphics A -
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Versa plot
D
“At first glance, it's almost over-
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key, the myriad of possibilities fea-
tured can test the ingenuity of even
the most knowledgeable user."
Business Software
Vol. 1, No. 5, Sept. /Oct. 1983
“In conclusion, if you are looking for the
most powerful program for scientific or
business use and are willing to spend
several days learning the system. The
Prime Plotter is your best choice "
Plotter Summary
PEELINGS 11 Vol. 4, No.4, 1983
( ‘ ) By permission of the
respective m.tq4/in«*s
To order, or (or more information, see your dealer or contact:
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Personal i hecks. Visa. MasterCard, or Choice accepted. Dealers: call write frw a dealer kit.
164 4 A f MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 1985
CIRCLE 239 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Evci play a fantasy role-playing
; ami and think. “I cuuld create a
ucr came than this!" Well, now's
\ ~>ui chain ( . Electronic Arts new Ad-
venture Construction Set is a phenom-
inai r.cw program that kts you build
,u!!-f]fdgcd advfjiiun games, eom-
piete with tour independent )v con-
t rolled diai al ters, c variety of crca-
iures. and a landscape.
Your voyagers grow in experience
. . ea act umulatr powers, just like in
• ‘iiitUi 01 Witsrer t but you can put
hem into absolutely am/ enviion-
..vnt you want. The choices are- lim-
■ kss. You also can play a full-length
adventure. "Rivers of Light. n which
- A 'l Adventure Construction Set
'*ncs on tlu disk.
Licsigtui Stuart Smith, whose earli-
• r credits include Aii-Bsba and the 40
Thieves and Heracles told k-fovlk
k-s "tiled ol panics that, once you
dj\ them, they rt ovej . ‘ Construe -
! aon sets let you have all the variety
. 'U want: "Make your own mov ies,
n.tn hiMorv. Keereate history.'
J le Bibk is computerized. Dirtio-
' u s and reference books an eotn-
• neri/cd. So. can tlu computerized
i stun oJ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
tt,c Galaxy !>< f.n behind? Scour the
kivvuu sh(-lv< n — Arthur Dent has re-
dtied. in an all text adventure
1 ailed by wh*; eke. the riffraff at In-
Build Your Own Adventure
Hitchhike Through the Galaxy
Win $1,000
focom Steve Meretzky the M.I.T.-wit
guilty of Hanetfall and Sorcerer, ac-
tually went to England, where he
learned to speak a foreign language
(British) ana coauthored the game
with Douglas Adams, author of the
novels on which the game is based.
For those cf you who Ve been
asleep for the last couple of years
and don't know about Hitchhiker's
and the adventures of its zero hero.
Arthur Dent, the books and game
chronicle the misadventures of a lost
soul suddenly dislocated from his
quiet, conventional life in his quiet,
conventional house on earth. His
(your) house is torn dowm. his (your)
planet is blown to bits, and he (or
you. if you've got the wit-power to
get so far) is beamed up into the gal-
axy. hurdling into one obstacle
after another. If you've read one,
two. or three (there’s a fourth
on the way) of Adams* books, ‘’don’t
panic: you re in for brand-new sur-
prises.
Alerting all artists or would-be art-
ists' Activision maker ol a new. easy-
to-usi programming language on
disk (for C 6-1 ) — The Designer's Pen-
al— has announced a contest. $1,900
goes to the creator of the best pro-
gram executed with The Designer's
Pencil, in each of four categories —
Short program (30 lines or less) and
long program by authors ] 5 and un-
der and 16 and older. Second prizes
(S500) and third prizes (Okidaia ’ •
printers) also will be awarded in
each category. Designers Pencil was
designed bv Garry Kitchen.
If you're wondering who's behind
the sharp gtaphics in a lot of Irodcr-
hund s new games, you have Gene
Portwood to thank. The company's
creative director earned his stripes
in WaH Disney s studios, where he
helped animate such classics as Pe-
ter Pan and Sleeping Beauty One of
Port wood s newest prides is Kara-
teka an action 'strategy game de-
signed by Iordan Mechner. a college
student. The gatin' calls on you to
control the karan skills of a young
master determined to rescue his lady
from the clutchi s of an evil warlord.
Next 8 Pages!!
s
a
A
FEBRUARY 1985 85
ii.-. i Humi ui£ nidi lit onus cnangmg uiapcrs
less unpleasant than doing his taxes, that he gets
up for nighttime feedings, and that his wife
recognizes his need for praise for these earnest
efforts. Irrelevant to the book's merit are my
pangs of env y at the Greenburg's ability to hire
expensive nannies and go on a week-long river
trip when their baby is a few months old.
W ith all that, they are likable people — their
caring for each other is evident in this enjoyable
book .
— Karen Seldt-u
Role of fathers
explored in survey
Men in Families , edited by Robert A. Lems
and Robert E. Salt (Sage Publications, 275 S.
Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills 902 12), 1986. $14.95
(paperback).
T wo social scientists at Purdue University w ith
an interest in what men do in families have
compiled thts 16-chdpter survey of the diverse
roles played. One of the major themes, w hat men
get out of marriage and parenthood, is addressed
from different perspectives: Men as Husbands.
Men as Fathers, and Men in Family, Kin and
Friendship Networks.
Contemporary men’s and women’s issues are
dealt with in a lucid, even-handed manner by the
various contributors. Covered are such topics as
why men get married, men’s work in the house,
husbands" jealousy of their wives’ attentions to
new babies, parent-child relationships in single-
father families, grandfathers and men’s friendships.
Three chapters specifically explore the situations
of black men.
— K.S.
Tape, books teach
tots the alphabet
ABCs with Ease — A Wee Bee Total
Learning Series, Vol. 1, a reading readiness
package consisting of three books and three
»»» IIVJ I VIViUPW
Since 1928 Minnie Mouse has been a part of a
show-biz team that s as famous for its acting as
Burns and Allen were for comedy. Now, almost
60 years later, Minnie has gone mod Totally
Minnie. Disneyland/Vista Records and Tapes’
newest album, features 10 contemporary tunes
that will please as many parents a it will please
youthful Minnie-maniacs.
Using recording stars with credits in mainstream
rock, Totally Minnie is a tribute to the trends of
the Eighties. Included are such fast-paced tunes as
“Girl Talk,” an amusing musical dialogue betw een
Minnie and her old pal Daisy; “Minnie’s Work-
out,” a chorus-backed get-fit number; and “Give
All You’ve Got,” a song that urges youngsters to
“be all you can be.”
The album’s release kicks off a corporate-wide
Minnie push that includes a new clothing line,
toys and personal appearances.
— Molly Adler
Computer game is
riot of family fun
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a
text-on l) adventure game by Infoconi Versions
availabi ■ for most computers; $35 to $40, depend-
ing on model.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which
Infocom calls a standard-level program suitable
for first-time players, is a riot of fun for the entire
family (except the under-7 crowd — the puzzles
are too frustrating). Map-making skills and a
sense of direction are less important here than in
some other adventure games, simply because the
action is too absurd. Sometimes the game even
lies!
This top-selling computer game, based very
loosely on the book of the same name, asks you to
sav e your house from a bulldozer and your world
from destruction. And yet the game is not violent,
merely imaginative. You may go mad helping
your child figure out how to get a “babel fish”
into his ear so he can understand alien tongues.
But u isn't necessary to solve it all to get a great
deal of pleasure from playing.
— Susan Perry
(2XJO <3
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The CES Name Game
O ne of the most notable trends at this year’s Summer
CES was the spate of names attached to software prod-
ucts — authors’ names, brand names, book titles (both
new and classic), characters’ names, even dolls’ names. The
amount of cross-licensing seems to have increased exponential-
ly as the rest of the software industry finds its place in the
multimedia information/entertainment field that game manufac-
turers have found so lucrative. In every area of consumer
software publishing— how-to, education, personal productivity
and interactive fiction— vendors are using well-known names
in an attempt to differentiate their products in the minds of
dealers and consumers.
Spinnaker Software, for instance, has jumped into the name
game with a vengeance. The newly introduced Trillium line of
“plot-based graphic adventure games” boasts titles such as
Michael Crichton’s Amazon and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit
451, while the Windham Classics line brings books like The
Swiss Family Robinson into the computer era. All the Trillium
titles are endorsed by the authors, who in some cases actually
participated in the writing. The titles and authors represent
only part of Spinnaker’s name strategy, however— brand
names are the other half, as evidenced by Trillium, Windham,
the line of educational software marketed under the Fisher-
Price logo, and the Nova imprint science education series.
“In the book business, when people go into the store they
look for a title or an author. They don't look for a publisher,
said Seth Godin, brand manager for the Trillium line. “But in
software they look for a brand. You can’t just license titles, you
have to build brands.”
Marc Blank, v-p for product development at Infocom (pub-
lisher of Zork and the longstanding leader in the interactive
fiction field), had a somewhat different perspective: “We have
no real interest in licensing titles,” he said. “I’m personally not
convinced that licensing titles has anything to do with quality
software.” Blank does feel that the Infocom brand name is
important, however: “Ninety percent of the people who buy
our games come back and buy another. However, Infocom is
working with Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker s Guide
to the Galaxy’ series) on an interactive game, though Blank
emphasizes that it isn’t just a licensing agreement. Hitchhiking
on your IBM?
Imagic also entered the author/title/brand name fray at the
show, previewing its Time Travelers series — which will open
with a Sherlock Holmes mystery, Another Bow, and The Time
Machine, based on H. G. Wells s science fiction classic and
its new Living Literature line, copublished with Bantam and
starting with an “interactive graphics adventure game” based
on Bantam’s Damiano trilogy by R. A. MacAvoy.
Right across the aisle from Imagic was Epyx, which pre-
viewed a text adventure version of Isaac Asimov's Robots of
Dawn as well as Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern, a sequel to its
1983 computer version of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of
Pern.
Leaving behind the interactive fiction realm, Epyx also an-
nounced a line it describes as Computer Activity Toys: “toys
playable on a home computer.” The big names in this line are
Barbie, Hot Wheels and G. I. Joe.
Nearby, DataSoft had martial artists battling with a variety
of lethal-looking instruments to promote its new Bruce Lee
martial arts game, Coleco was showing video games using the
Dukes of Hazzard, Star Trek and Tarzan characters, and spy
battled spy in First Star’s Spy vs. Spy game based on Mad
magazine’s comic strip. M .
Among the biggest news at the show was Atari s introduc-
tion of a new machine, the 7800, and of a line of game software
created in cooperation with Lucasfilms of Star Wars fame.
There were some raised eyebrows about what purpose a new
machine served, but few doubted the sophistication or viability
of the three-dimensional software. Atari strikes back?
In the “edutainment” field, the name of the game was Mup-
pets. They were ubiquitous, with four different companies
showing new Muppets software. Simon & Schuster demon-
strated Kermit’s Electronic Storymaker and The Great Gonzo
in Word Rider!, two “courses” to teach reading offered under
the “Muppet Institute of Technology,” “endowed’ by S & S.
Broderbund demonstrated Welcome Aboard, a package de-
signed to teach various computer applications, including word
processing, database management, programming and comput-
er-aided design. Sierra Software introduced Gelfling Adven-
ture, a junior version of the Dark Crystal Adventure game,
based on the epic fantasy film Dark Crystal by Jim Henson,
creator of the Muppets.
The most novel of the Muppets material, however, was a
combination of hardware and software. Koala Technologies, in
cooperation with Henson Associates and Sunburst Communi-
cations, introduced its new Muppet Learning Keys — a child s
computer keyboard that has oversized, easy-to-use keys (in
alphabetical rather than QWERTY order) and child-oriented
function keys such as “go,” “stop ’ and “erase. The key-
board will come bundled with number recognition/counting
software from Sunburst, and other software packages are in
development. .
Coleco had several names attached to its edutainment soft-
ware, including the Smurfs, the Cabbage Patch Kids, and char-
acters designed by Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry.
Another big name in the edutainment field was Snoopy, who
could be seen strolling the floor in front of Random House
Software's booth, drawing in passers-by to try out the new 10-
title Random software line, six of which are based on Peanuts
cartoon characters.
In another Bantam tie-in, Mindscape was demonstrating its
new line of Tink! Tonk! edutainment software, developed by
John Sansevere and noted children s book author Mercer
Mayer, founders of Angelsoft. Angelsoft s sister company , Pa-
perwing Press, developed and packaged the Tink! Tonk! series
of books for Bantam.
Character and author names haven’t found their way into the
personal productivity and how-to areas as much as they have in
other fields, but it seems it’s only a matter of time. Meca (Micro
Education Corporation of America) was offering Managing
Your Money, an integrated program for home financial plan-
ners by Andrew Tobias, author of The Only Investment Guide
You'll Ever Need, and The Running Program by Jim Fixx, a
well-known author of running books.
Simon & Schuster has licensed products from widely recog-
nized authorities for home productivity and educational tools
as well, translating J. K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax and Your
Personal Money Manager to software, along with Webster s
New World Spelling Checker and Lovejoy’s SAT and college
preparation guides. Says Frank E. Schwartz, president of the
S & S Electronic Publishing Group, “Having the names of
recognized authorities on our software will give the products
immediate recognition and create a comfort level which makes
the purchasing decision easier for the consumer.”
And “coming soon” from Broderbund: What Color Is Your
Parachute?, based on the career change book of that name by
Richard Nelson Bolles, developed in cooperation with the au-
thor, and to be sold along with the book by both Broderbund
and Ten Speed Press, the book’s publisher. Job security for
the software shakeout? steve roth
JUNE 29. 1984
71
1;/ thi most recent of tin Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy serus. modestly titled
Life, the Universe and Everything Dimglas
Adams's profoundly incompetent protagonist
Arthur Dent finds he’s been flung 200 million
years into Earth’s primeval past, in a part of
tlu world one den to be known as the Islington
borough of London. England. Two hundred
million years later, it’s possible to find Douglas
Adams in thus very Islington. Yem go up a
narrow alley' off Islington Green — an alley
which Adams rightly describes as looking like
"some thug’s sure to set about you there’’ — you
find a door to an apartment where there should
be only soiled wooden crates and cracked cob-
blestone. You are admitted, and find yourself
in a modem, spacious, multi-leveled apart-
ment. replete with bar, theatre poster prints,
skylight, roof garden, and a six -foot -high yel-
low toothbrush. The tootbrush leans against a
bare white wall, and it looks authentic. Adams
is bearishly big — once held a job as a
bodyguard — sort of pale and soft-looking but
with a classic Brit’s aristocratic nose, featur-
ing arched nostrils, and a mind like a unldly
careening gyroscope. When he talks, he inter-
jects qualifiers parenthetically, and more
qualifiers on top of those, and weaves a com-
plex syntax, then brings it all together — and by-
God, it makes sense. His voice is soft, and
despite his jumping mind he’s courteous, and
listens to tedious anecdotes told by Yours Truly
without a visible flicker of impatience.
Adams was bom in Cambridge in 1952. He
was educated at Brentwood School. Essex,
and St. John’s College, where he read English.
After graduation he urotc for radio and tele-
vision. as well as authoring, performing, and
sometimes directing stage revues in London.
He held various odd jobs between the show
business gigs, working as a hospital porter,
bam builder, chicken-shed cleaner, radio pro-
ducer and — akin to chicken-shed cleaner —
script editor for Doctor Who. ” He is not mar-
ried, has no children, and “does not unsh to
hear from anymore Surrey real estate agents. ”
His newest work, in collaboration with John
Lloyd, is called The Meaning of Liff (that's Liff
with tu’o Fs, not Life) and it’s a farcical dic-
tionary > describing the origin and " actual"
meanings of various silly place-names from
around England and the U.S. He’s also work-
ing on a new Hitchhiker’s Guide book, so it
looks as if the senes may be open-ended — and
why not? W'odehouse wrote scores of Bertie and
Jeeves books, and the queen knighted him for
it. Adams took my serious questions seriously,
not trying to perform during the interview, and
only occasionally glanced at his watch
— John Shirley
HM: According to my information, you wen
bom in 1943 in Madagascar, the son of a
West Indian prince and the wife of a British
ambassador — an illegitimate child, you
nevertheless rose to be one of Britain's
foremost cricket batsmen. You received
even honor due the best of that profession
before retiring from the sport in 1967 as a
result of religious convictions which forbade
the use of a cncket bat outside the institution
of marriage. Is that substantially correct?
DA: Nearly. There are a couple of details I’d
like to correct. . . . You got the century'
right. Not everyone gets the century- nght.
You were more accurate than many — well, a
curious thing happened recently. I had a
whoie batch of letters from this woman who
claimed to have written the first two books of
Hitchhiker sitting in a bar somewhere in
Zambia fifteen years ago! Her letters often
seemed to be quite rational, and then sud-
denly they w T ould sink into two or three lines
of rampant paranoia — and then become ra-
tional again.
HM: This is your public. W 7 e all WTote the
books at some point. I myself wrote the
second book.
DA: Did you? I liked that one best. You did a
good job.
HM: In your real life, before the Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy radio series began, you
w*ere a member of a sort of comedy club in
Cambridge. Other members w T ere John
Cleese and Eric Idle.
DA: Yes. Footlights Club, which has pro-
duced in its day an awful lot of people who
went into English comedy but also people
who went into broadcasting and theatre gen-
erally. The names that spring to mind are
Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, John Cleese.
Graham Chapman. Eric Idle — Oxford had
their owm group which produced Michael
Palin, Terry Jones, Allen Bennet, Dudley
Moore. I worked for a short time with
Graham Chapman, one of the Pythons — but
not actually on Python itself — on a number of
things, most of which failed to see the light of
day.
HM: Did you write anything in the way of
fiction before Hitchhiker' si
DA: Not fiction, no. Sketches. Doing bits
and pieces for the odd sketch show' on radio.
Having a pretty unspectacular career really. I
suppose the eighteen months before Hitch-
hiker were the least spectacular. I was hav-
ing real money problems, couldn’t pay the
rent, getting really down and very depres-
sed. I actually w r ent and stayed in my parents’
home down in Dorest for awhile, w r hile I
worked out what I was going to do next, and
ended up starting tin Hitchhiker radio play
whik 1 was down there. (Note: the radio
plays were written first, and the first two
books were adapted from them Then Adams
WTote the thiid in the senes from scratch. 1
HM: Are vou working on more fiction?
DA: I’m going to WTite om more Hitchhiker
b<xik. My title for the moment — I’m having
arguments with my agent, he doesn't like it
— is So Long and Thanks for All tlu Fish.
HM: Some of the series reminds me of S.J.
Perelman’s travel sketches, the acerbity' that
he would use in describing exotic places.
DA: (dubiously) Hmm . . . Well I love good
comedy writing, because knowing how dif-
ficult it is to do, I very much respect those
who do it particularly well. And people some-
times say to me, “Do you ever aspire to
write a serious book?" And my practiced glib
answer to that is, “No, my aspirations are
much greater than that, I aspire to write like
P.G. Wodehouse.”
HM: Arthur Dent seems to me a lot like
Bertie W’ooster, the archetypal W'odehouse
creation. He’s used like Bertie Wooster, and
his unshakeable but sympathetic denseness
resembles Bertie. I assume Wodehouse is an
influence.
DA: Yes, he’s definitely an influence. But in
fact, one of the guides I use when I’m trying
to convey the character of Arthur is Simon
Jones. WTiich is not to say that Simon Jones is
like Arthur Dent. But he has made the char-
acter in his performance so clear to me, I
tend to sort of put Simon in his dressing
gown there in my head and write what comes
from that.
HM: The section of Restaurant at tlu End of
the Universe regarding the legions of useless
people — hairdressers, management consul-
tants, telephone sanitizers, and so forth —
castaway on a hostile world and insisting on a
Management Efficiency Committee to deal
with the problem of building a fire, is reminis-
cent of Alice’s arguments with the function-
aries of Wonderland. Is it a deliberate refer-
ence to Lewis Carroll?
DA: No, it isn’t actually. Lewis Carroll, curi-
ously enough, 1 read when I was a little kid.
and it frightened me to bits and I couldn’t
bear it since then. A number of people keep
on saying that Lewis Carroll uses number
forty-two quite a lot [Note: for the mystical
significance of forty-two in the Hitchhiker
series, read the Hitchhiker series] and find
some significance in that. But if I'd used the
number thirty-nine other people would have
found references in other people’s books for
that number, and so on and so forth As far as
children’s books are concerned, a much
A TALK WITH DOUGL-AS-ADAMS
by John Shirley
Illustration by Alan LyncP
HtAVYMf 1A1 5k
* -stronger influence would Ik W'mnu the Pooh.
Because Milne’s writing iv wonderful — it's
easy to road and it’s beautifully written,
worth having a l<K>k at again
HM: You’re now being hyped in the States,
as I’m sure you know . How do you feel about
that?
DA: Well, what I'd like to be sure doesn’t
happen — and so far I’ve managed to resist
it — is when the media presentation outstrips
the public reaction. That is really what hype
is — when there’s a sort of credibility gap
between w'hat the publicists say and how the
public’s really responded. But luckily the ori-
ginal public response really came up out of
nowhere, and therefore I feel the hype simp-
ly kept pace with that. What would be ter-
rible would be if the thing had been launched
in the first place in a sort of huge great glare
of publicity. But it’s grown in response to
public demand. I’d be nervous if there’d been
a lot of publicity on the first book and every-
one had said, “Well it really wasn’t worth it,
was it?”
HM: How w'ould you feel if some group of
airheads started a religious cult based on
your series? After all, it has a number of
mvstical/comical joke overtones.
DA: I once sat in a cafe in San Francisco and
heard a new religion started at the next table
just ’round some poetry this guy had written.
On the one hand, yes, I think it would be
absurd and ridiculous; on the other hand, I’m
no longer surprised at the absurd and ridicu-
lous things people do. I was sitting watching
Channel 22 in Los Angeles, an evangelist’s
program, and it was absolutely frightening —
a sort of cross between Dolly Parton and
Eichmann. And it’s supposed to be religion,
but God is hardly ever mentioned — it’s all
Money and Success and Send Money To This
Address and Help Us Pay For These
Hairdos.
HM: There seems to be, in your series, a
kind of tension between an overwhelming
sense of a chaotic universe and a yearning for
orderly explanations in life. I mean, you make
fun of looking for meaning in life but at the
same time you’re looking for meaning in life.
DA: Well, yes. Just in order to get by from
one day to another in life one has to make
certain assumptions about the way the world
w-orks. About the way patterns recur. On the
other hand there is an immense amount we
don’t know' anything about at all. And the
things we take for granted do occasionally
break down, and life is terribly cruel and un-
fair in the most arbitrary way. And you sud-
denly realize we don’t really understand any-
thing about the way we operate or why we’re
here. In order to really understand anything.
you’d need to know everything— which we
can’t possibly do.
HM: That's relevant to a bit in Restaurant
where there’s a man in a shack on a deserted
planet who allegedly controls the universe —
it’s never resolved whether he truly does —
and he’s constantly questioning reality on the
basis of the universal subjectivity of every-
one’s impressions.
DA: That’s right, he refuses to accept any-
thing at all as real except those things he
whimsically decides to accept.
HM: Does this represent your own view-
point?
DA: It doesn’t represent my view in terms of
what one lives by, but it represents some-
thing I’m aw f are of and think about.
HM: I have the impression the man in the
shack feels everyone is always very’ isolated
and anytime we can communicate anything
that was like w-hat we really meant, it’s al-
most miraculous.
DA: Yes, that’s true. We talk about one uni-
verse but the universe I live in is the uni-
verse as it is revealed to my own senses —
w-hich is absolutely subjective — and the uni-
verse you live in is abolutely subjective to
you. I imagine you in my mind at the moment
and you imagine me in yours. But in fact
w r e ’re talking about two universes.
HM: If you keep on like that you'll give me an
acid flashback . . . People and things get
killed wildly in all three of the books. There’s
carnage, and at one point there’s a reference
to a planet w T hich is used as a b illiar d ball in a
cosmic game of pool, causing billions of in-
habitants to die as it’s sunk “in the pocket” of
a black hole. You’re fascinated by death, and
you’re either salaciously fascinated or you’re
protesting and very upset about it.
DA: I ’m certainly not salacious about it, quite
the reverse. No it’s not a protest, you can’t
protest against death.
HM: Yeah, who do you make the protest to?
DA: Yes, “1 demand not to die!” W 7 anton,
casual, meaningless death — yes, I do it, like
the death of the whale in the first book. I
found that sort of moving, actually, the death
of the whale, who’s just arbitrarily called into
existence and has about ninety seconds to
work out who he is, what he’s doing there,
and what his life is all about, before it ends. I
don’t know w r hy I keep on doing that, the
violence. It’s partly, I suppose, to engage
sympathy for the people concerned. To en-
gage other people’s sympathy or to engage
mine, I don’t know. What I find upsetting is
not the violence as you see it in a film like
Straw Dogs — which I thought was a very-
good film — but the violence that you get in
the average American cop show where by-
standers or people you’d see in tin story for
a hall-mmute get shot and no more mention is
made of them. 1 think the death of that w-hale
came to me while 1 was watching an episode
of an American TV show called Cannon a
few years ago. Some guv who was probably
one of the henchmen of the baddies got shot
and his only function in the story was to get
shotl 1 began to think, "Well, who is he,
w’here did he come from?” He must have
grown up and had a mother and father who
sent him off to school and w r ere very proud of
him, and suddenly he gets shot on the street
and no one’s even noticed. That sort of mind-
less, meaningless violence which nobody
even notices is w-hat really upsets me.
HM: So in the books you’re reacting against
the meaninglessness of random violence —
DA: Yes, but I don’t want to make that sound
like a statement. I do get very upset by vio-
lence or suffering that people I know- go
through. I get almost unnaturally upset about
it.
HM: There was the episode in one of your
books where somebody threw a pebble into
the brush which started a chain of events that
led to the death of the girlfriend of the guy
who innocently threw the pebble.
DA: That goes back to the idea of chaos and
order, because everything that happened
there happened in a perfectly orderly way,
following its own little logical progression,
but it introduced a completely random event
of unpleasant proportions back into the story.
It’s one d? those things one frequently gets
confronted by in life, which is the bad experi-
ence, the terrible experience, from which it
is impossible to leam anything at all. Given
the destruction caused by the randomness in
the universe, why do we also have to deal
with the phone company? It seems unfair we
should do it to ourselves, inflicting suffering
via the phone company, when we’ve already-
got the natural world doing it to us.
HM: What about the charge that most of the
effect in British humor derives from the too
easy device of inserting absurd anomalies —
the exotic in the banal background like a
Martian stepping out of a refrigerator, which
you’d see on Monty Python, or the banal in
the exotic, like Italian Bistros in Space as in
your most recent book. Isn’t that too preva-
lent in English humor?
DA: No, I think it’s too prevalent in life. I
think we English notice more that goes on.
An example of the banal set in the exotic: Go
to Sheridan, Wyoming. We just drove from
Los Angeles to New York and the country-
side in America is fantastically beautiful — the
most beautiful part we happened to see was
Wyoming Then to arrive at Sheridan and find
I was watching an evangelist’s
program, and it was absolutely frightening —
a sort of cross between Dolly Parton and
Eichmann.
56 HE AVY Ml 1AI
suc h an extraordinarily potty place — it wa 1 -
inconceivable that people could build a town
like that in that setting. Don't they ever look
out of their windows? 1 find that the major
difference between the English and the
Americans is the Americans lack a sense of
irony. Especially after living six months in
Los Angeles. It's not the same in New York,
of course. Well we went to a restaurant that
night in Sheridan, and it was very, very
difficult to find anywhere one would actually
want to go into. We eventually found this
place which didn’t have any windows, and it
had a really dreadful old stained red carpet,
which smelled of old carbolic, and horrible
plastic chandeliers dripping all over the place,
and some guy playing the electric organ very
very slowly and women wearing high heels
and ankle socks. We said to one waiter we
spoke to — “That scenery out there! The
land in which you live is incredible!" And he
said, “Oh yeah it’s quite nice up there — but
have you been to Las Vegas ?!” Great.
HM: Americans are obsessed with the arti-
facts of exploitation and to them that’s
beauty. Places like Sheridan are the very
soul of the country. Were you in L.A. work-
ing on the Hitchhiker film?
DA: I was working on a screenplay while I
was in Los Angeles. It’s very difficult to say
anything too clearly at this moment, simply
because until you’re actually in production
you can’t know what’s happening. Or even
when you’re in production — only when
you've finally got the film can you know what
it is you’re talking about. At this stage I
haven’t got a version I’m happy with. What
we've got at the moment is me trying to
meet them and them trying to meet me and
they’re not being quite happy and then me
not being quite happy with it —
HM: American producers?
DA: Yeah.
HM: A venomous breed. Mark my words,
five years from now you'll be writing bitter
satire about Hollywood producers.
DA: I have started work on the Hitchhiker
computer adventure game.
HM: What about an animated version of
Hitchhiker ?
DA: I’ve never been keen on that idea, be-
cause my impulse has ahvays been with these
fantastical situations to try — I don’t say I’m
always successful — but to try and make
them as real and solid and concrete as pos-
sible. And I think you’re really stacking the
odds against yourself if you go into animation.
Because it tends to emphasize the fantastical
nature of the events. I w r ant the events to be
fantastical but to appear to be as real as
possible.
HM: What alxmt tin hieroglyphs versions?
C uneifomi? Stained glass? Comic book 1 -'’
DA: Comic books? What would 1 do with
comic books? Either I’m going to devote my
time to writing stories for comic books,
which I don’t want to do, or go hand it over to
somebody else. 1 don’t want to do that.
HM: So you like to maintain control over
Hitchhiker projects?
DA: Oh yeah. But on the screenplay 1 have
what is known as “consultation rights,’’ w'hich
is not the same as artistic control. Frankly
you have to be Warren Beatty or someone to
get artistic control.
HM: Do you read science fiction?
DA: Not very much. I’ve got piles of science-
fiction books next door largely because [sigh-
ing] people keep on giving them to me. The
best ones I’ve enjoyed tremendously, like A
Canticle For Liebountz. And one of the people
I came across is Robert Sheckley, who is tre-
mendous. When 1 read a collection of Robert
Sheckley stones for the first time I really felt
my nose well-and-true put out of joint be-
cause I thought, “This is precisely what I
w'anted to try to do and he’s done it a great
deal better.”
HM: How ? do vou feel about drugs?
DA: I’m a dean-living boy. I used to oc-
casionally smoke a little dope. Half a dozen
times a year. I meet people who say, “Hey,
what are you on when you write that stuff?"
You can’t wTite w’ell unless you’re under
control. Particularly writing fantasy.
HM: The scourge of the universe in Life, the
Universe and Everything w-ere the people of
Krikkit, who were so incredibly xenophobic
and ultraprovincial they wanted to obliterate
the w 7 hole universe so they could have their
isolated idyll undisturbed —
DA: The idea behind that was to create a
race of villains whose behavior was utterly
villainous by the standards of anybody else,
but according to their own precepts they are
behaving w T ell, behaving decently, behaving
morally.
HM: So villains are never completely vil-
lainous if you see things from their viewpoint.
Is that the message here?
DA: Oh, I don’t think there’s a message —
HM: I insist on finding a message in it!
DA: Very well. That’s a message, then.
HM: Anyway, your books are therapeutic.
When you make great humor out of the
senseless patterns of random violence in life,
you make life more acceptable and tolerable,
because you make it possible to laugh it off.
DA: Yes, I recognize that as being at work in
my books.
HM: Thanks for that therapy. And the ordeal
is now over. Thanks, Mr. Adams.
Douglas Adams It your books sold like his
you'd be smiling too
I meet people who say, “Hey.
what are you on when you write that stuff?"
You can ’t w r ite well unless you 'n- -tmdri
control. Particularly writing fantasy.
r Books
Douglas Adams hitchhikes across deep space for the fourth time in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish’; the
collected plays of Sam Shepard; earth In the 35th century; Mario Puzo continues the Godfather’ saga ; cop
stalks killer, and vice versa, in Glitz’; a grand inquisitor of the literati; hig noise from a quiet author.
Galactic
Gag Man
D ouglas Adams travels
the universe almost as
much as the characters
in his “Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy”
books. Take, for example,
his schedule for just two weeks last month.
He leaves Los Angeles after working for a
week on a film treatment of “Hitchhiker.”
For two days he’s in Maryland, giving read-
ings at Montgomery College in Rockville
and the University of Maryland. On to New
York for two days of brainstorming with
Henson Associates (the Muppet people) for
a hush-hush TV project. Then Oberlin
College in Ohio for a reading. Two days
later, it's a press conference in New York
for the new “Hitchhiker” home-computer
game, followed by game promotion the
next day in Las Vegas and in San Francisco
two days after that. Finally, back to his
native England for three weeks of promot-
ing his new book, “So Long, and Thanks
for All the Fish.” No wonder he can only
squeeze in an interview while he’s having
breakfast at 8 a.m. When does he sleep?
“That’s the problem,” says a barely awake
Aj Adams. “I don’t have time to sleep.”
f Adams’s talent for warp-speed outer-
space wit has spawned an enormously prof-
itable “Hitchhiker” industry. First done
as a BBC radio series in 1 978, "Hitchhiker”
has become a recording, a TV series, a
number of theatrical productions and a
movie to be directed by Ivan (“Ghostbust-
ers”) Reitman. The “Hitchhiker” game,
just out. is a text-based adventure in which
j the object of the game, says Adams, 32, “is
to find out the object of the game." The
first three "Hitchhiker” books — “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," “The
Restaurant at the End of the Universe” and
“Life, the Universe and Everything" —
have all been best sellers, with a total of over
7 million copies in print. "So Long, and
1 hanks lor All the Fish," which comes out
next month, seems certain to do as well. In
jLu typical bit of Adams tongue-in-cheek, the
usi jacket for “Fish" describes it as
the “fourth book in the ’Hitchhiker's
Trilogy’.”
From the beginning, the “Hitchhiker"
books have delivered headlong action on a
cosmic scale. In the first, the Earth acts
blown up after less than 35 pages, and Ar-
thur Dent, a real schlemiel of a hero, es-
capes the destruction and begins to carom
about the universe from one tight scrape to
another.
A dams's relentless sense of humor
/I often springs from setting earthly
foibles in an extraterrestrial context. In
"Restaurant. " he describes the hangover
Dent gets after traveling via a matter-
transference beam: "Any form of transport
which involved tearing you apart atom by
atom. Hinging thoseatoms through the sub-
ether. and then lamming them back to-
gether again nisi when they were getting
their first taste of freedom lor veais had to
be had iu w s "
In the new book. Arthur Dent returns
to an Earth that looks remarkably the same
way it did before it was blown up, except
for the mysterious absence of dolphins.
(The title is a goodbye message from the
long departed aquatic mammals.) Dent
works diligently to find out w hat hap-
pened to his native planet, with the help of a
like-minded Earthwoman. Only at the
novel's end do they blast oil’ together in
search ol "( iod's I mal Message to ills
Creation " l ike the prev ions three books.
Adams saturates the stoi y \v uh bizarre
characters and absurd si mat ions Rob Mc-
! Kenna. lor example, is a io: i v driver who
! Ivci »uies t a moiis as t lie "Rain ( iod" because
I it has rained cv ci v place he has been for I he
oast
a is
I
uni
V lOlls
fSool^s
hiker" books. "Fish" concen-
trates o . one planet — and a fa-
. ..'liar one at that. And. for the
first time. Adams makes Dent a
well-rounded character rather
than a galaxial Keystone Cop.
The pace of "Fish" is less fre-
netic; at times, it’s even lyrical.
In comparing this novel with
his earlier ones, Adams ob-
serves, ‘‘When I wrote about
fantastical things going on in
other worlds, I made them
seem as real and concrete as I
possibly could. Now that I’ve
come back to Earth, everything
has taken on a strange kind of
dreamlike quality. And I’m at a
loss to explain that.”
A dams has always had
trouble settling down
to w'rite. “I try and avoid it if at
all possible,” he says. “The busi-
ness of buying new pencils as-
sumes gigantic proportions. I
have four word processors at
home and I spend a lot of time
trying to decide which one to
work on.” But when Adams fi-
nally decides to write, he de-
cides to write. “Fish” was writ-
ten essentially in three weeks
this fall, after Adams’s English
publisher booked him into a
hotel and baby-sat him. His fa-
vorite, “Restaurant,” took a
month. “Writing comes easy,”
he explains. “All you have
to do is stare at a blank piece
of paper until your fore-
head bleeds.”
In the near future, Adams
won’t have to suffer this ordeal.
Through early 1985 much of
his time will be taken up with
promoting "Fish” and finding
a moment to get married. He
doesn’t yet have a firm con-
cept for his next book, but he
insists that it won’t be scifi.
“I’ve never been a science-fic-
tion buff. I have a house full of
the books, but only because peo-
ple are always giving them to
me,” Adams confesses. “I con-
sider myself largely a comedy
writer. But even though I pro-
test that I’m not a science-fic-
tion writer, 1 find that science-
fictional elements continue to
creep in on the side.” Adams
also professes that “Fish” is
his last “Hitchhiker” book. But
die-hard fans can take comfort
in his recollection that "I never
thought there would be a third
or fourth book, either.”
KON GIVENS
Earth:
A.D. 3414
“ Michael Corleone stood on a long wooden dock In Palermo and watched the great ocean
liner set sail for America. He was to have sailed on that ship, but new instructions had
come from his father.” — Irani Mario Puzo's new "Godfather" book, "The Sicilian”
since Buffalo Bill, and rock
messiahs haven't been taken se-
riously (even by rock critics)
since Elvis Costello. For some-
one at the cutting edge, Shep-
ard (as the hackneyed reference
to Yeats shows) can be a little
quaint: these plays, with their
enigmatic action and improb-
able characters, really aren't
much different from the “ab-
surdist” plays of the 1950s. For
all his characters’ trendy talk
of Mick Jagger and Barbara
Mandrell, Shepard may final-
ly be remembered as the last of
the beat generation. He even
prefaces “Angel City” with a
note advising actors to ap-
proach their parts “in terms of
collage construction or jazz
improvisation.” Like, wow.
DAVID GATES
Shepard: The pop profundities of horse opera and rock
Shepard:
Rough Read
Because of “The Right
Stuff," in which he played pilot
Chuck Yeager, and “Coun-
try,” in which he played farmer
Gil Ivy, Sam Shepard is
known by most as a movie star.
But Shepard, 41, has been
called the pre-eminent play-
wright of his generation — and
even the best American drama-
tist now writing. Since his first
play, “Cowboys,” was pro-
duced when he was 19, he has
won 10 Obies and a Pulitzer
Prize. Michiko Kakutani of
The New' York Times says he
has “put forth a vision of
America that resonates with the
power of legend.” The Village
Voice’s Ross Wetzsteon says he
has “altered the conventions
of theater as radically as Brecht
or Beckett.” And so on. When
the flannel-shirted Shepard (ne
Samuel Shepard Rogers) fixes
that intense stare on you from
the cover of his new collection
("Fool for Love and Other
Plays,” published this month
by Bantam), remember: he’s not
just another craggy face.
flBS: Shepard ’s admirers —
that is, almost everybody — tes-
tify to his power to move the-
ater audiences. But readers may
wonder what the fuss is about.
The “legend” in which Shepard
traffics is the pop profundities
of horse opera and rock-and-
roll sainthood that have al-
ready been plumbed by too
many filmmakers and rock
critics. When rodeo cowboy Ed-
die in “Fool for Love” is re-
duced to lassoing the bedposts
in a seedy motel room, we’re
supposed to sense (according to
the book’s introduction) “the
decline of the Old West.” In
“Cowboy Mouth," Cavale
(first played by punk-rock poet
Patti Smith) fantasizes that
"the rock-’n’-roll star in his
highest state of grace will be
the new savior . . . rocking to
Bethlehem to be born.” But
I he Old West has been in decline
Philip Jose Farmer has nev-
er been as successful as Frank
Herbert or J. R. R. Tolkien in
reaching readers outside the sci-
ence-fiction-and-fantasy sub-
culture. But to insiders, Farmer
is like Henry James — a writer
too good for hoi polloi. Critic
Leslie Fiedler — a dabbler in
the genre himself — once called
Tanner: Son of ‘ River world'
26
NEWSWEEK ON C AMI'DS/DIX IMHEK 1484
(^tDasfiinfltonpost
Mary Jane Johnson’s
road to ‘The Merry Widow'
Arts: Peter Dean
and his show biz memories
v>
t?terday
• .:.g that
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Michael
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I'MC VAt>0* t OK INC WttMMCTON PCY
Thumbing
His Why
To Success
Author Douglas Adams
Continues His ‘Hitchhiker' Epic
By Demon Howe
S»iral to The WiMtungTon Post
Just when you thought you’d read the final ins:*:
ment of “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . .
Or teen the final TV repeat episode . . .
Or beard the last radio show . . .
Or spun the final record album . .
There is more. True to amoebic form, the Hitch-
hiker story will reproduce itself as a movie, is a\a !-
able as a home computer software game and. this
month, the final book sequel. “So Long, and Thans-
for All the Fish," will be in the bookstores.
Is there no limit?
“Well, we don’t have a braille version and we dor. t
have ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ dental floss," says Dougk..-
Adams, the source of this meandering science fiction
mock epic. In town to read excerpts from his works i
college audiences, he is trying to conform his 6-fcct-"
body behind a small Ramada Hotel breakfast tabk
lost somewhere in the outer space of Rockviile.
He is just back from the ionosphere known as Los
Angeles, where he has been negotiating the film pro
ject with Ivan CGhoat busters") Reitman. who ha-
bought the option on the rights.
“Progress on the film ii perceptible to the hum u:
eye. The biggest hurdles are finding a script we . in
all agree on and a director who can cope with i.a
technical effects (yet) go easy on relentiess. uonj >■
fu! special effects . . . also if he could be English ir.
would be food as well" says Adams, who is and lou
Eogbsh— unaguKL SidJCaaaK (Nm an averaged
wayward but mannerly British schoolboy, dressed r
yeans and leather jacket.
The film, which begins production early next ye -
is the crowning glory of the "Hitchhiker” phero;: . -
non. which has taken the form of radio serialization *
record album, a book with three sequels ( "So Long
being the third sequel), stage adaptations (including
version that had the audience sitting in a circuiatn.,
hovercraft) and a BBC television series For the in-
satiable cult followers, there is the aforementioned
software program — in which you can participate .
Arthur Dent, one of the story’s characters.
“Curiously, the American audience sees the ’Hitch
hiker’s Guide’ as being very English." says Adam-
who teems to enjoy observing the varied reactions to
“Hitchhiker" with a kind of omniscient benevolence
“And the Enghah audience actually sees it. to quite a
targe extent, as being quite American. So it exist -
somewhere out in mid-Attantic."
He admits to having done "pretty well" by all th-
He lives in a 10-room flat m London, is dating a Lu.
don hamster (too busy to get married just yet) and
Sm ADAMS. Cl!, C»L 1
Dougin Adstat. author of “So Long, and Tbnnki for All tbe Fish "
All
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The Washington Post Fhiiiay. Novembeh 23, 1984 C 11
m
Books
FREE!
24 colorful pages
of window and
patio door facts.
Here’s the window and patio door
booklet for new homes, remodeling
and window replacing. 24 pages of
facts and figures in easy to under-
stand question and answer format.
There are full-color photos for
window ideas and sections on energy,
window planning and new Andersen®
High Performance insulating glass.
The complete Pcrma Shield* product
line is shown installed in homes.
Introducing
Arrow Sambuca.
Imported from Italy
This is licorice with an
adult twist.
Warm, smooth and very
distinctive.
Try it in coffee Con ,vv , :
(with three coffee bears!
or on its own.
It's the licorice taste
that's definitely not kid stuff
^Arrow.
Nothing stands out
like good taste
Earthbound
SO LONG, AND THANKS
FOR ALL THE FISH
by Douglas Adams
Harmony; 204 pages; $12.95
Send me the ’Window & Patio Door \nswers
From Andersen” booklet. I plan to □ htnld
Lj remodel I i replace. Mail to Andersen
Corp . Box 12. Bayport, MN 55003 159-0385j
Na me
. State
Aieu ( »hU*
( ome home tot|tulitv (ome home to Vndcrscn.'
Andersen Vl/indowalls
moi s ( ,>py tight c 19X4 An Jet sen i oip Havivwi MN
I n ancient days, before the advent of the
Sorth of Bragadox, when Fragilis sang
and Saxaquine of the Quenelux held sway,
Arthur Dent awoke one morning in his
modest home west of London to learn from
a visiting extraterrestrial that the earth
was about to be demolished. It had to make
way for a hyperspace bypass. What hap-
pened next is too horrible to recount, but
several hundred thousand inhabitants of
the planet earth are familiar with the tale.
That is a conservative estimate of the
audience for Douglas Adams’ 1979 luna-
_ tic masterpiece, The
Hitchhiker’s Guide
l to the Galaxy, a 1980
| sequel, The Restau-
rant at the End of the
Universe, and a
1982 sequel, Life,
the Universe and Ev-
erything. The Hitch-
hiker’s Trilogy,
which began as a ra-
dio serial, has grown
to embrace a televi-
sion series, record
albums, several the-
atrical productions
Douglas Adams and a computer soft-
ware game. As a re-
sult of all that furious merchandising, Ad-
ams, 32, a 6-ft. 5-in., former television
script editor {Dr. Who), has become a cult
figure at colleges throughout the galaxy. So
Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is billed,
with impeccable logic, as the trilogy's
fourth volume. It is the looniest of the lot.
Fish chronicles the return of the shy,
self-effacing Dent to his home planet after
a successful demolition-eve escape. He
has spent the intervening eight years
hitching rides on passing spacecraft,
snacking at duty-free shops on distant
planets and encountering such diverse
creatures as a lost tribe of ballpoint pens
mislaid by former owners, and a race of
marketing executives who, despite 573
committee meetings, have still not discov-
ered the wheel (“All right, Mr. Wiseguy
. . . you tell us what color it should be”).
To Dent's surprise, earth has somehow
escaped destruction, but all the dol-
phins have mysteriously disappeared. The
book's title, in fact, is their farewell mes-
sage. He sets out to find them, making new
friends, notably a lady whose feet do not
quite touch the ground, and re-encounter-
ing old ones, like Ford Prefect, hard-
drinking correspondent for the Hitchhik-
er’s Guide, a 6 million-page Baedeker of
the cosmos. Prefect is still updating his en-
tries; for instance, rediscovering a New
York City river “so extravagantly pollut-
I IMF M \R( II II. l-iHS
If you still believe in me, save me.
To make your tax-deductible donation, call 1-800-USA-LADY.
Or write: The Lady, P.O. Box 1986, New York, NY 10018.
KEEP THE TORCH LIT
© 1984 The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
FIRST CLASS
EUROPEAN TRAIN
TRAVEL - '
THE PRICE OF
A FEW ROLLS
OF film:
Eurailpass gives you inex-
pensive and flexible First
Class train travel through
sixteen European countries
for fifteen days. The total
cost? $260. That’s less
than eighteen dollars a
day or about the price of
a few rolls of film*
Ask your travel agent
about Eurailpass or send
for our free, colorful and
informative brochure
today!
r
i
i
i
i
Yes. I want to enjoy First Class European train travel for about
the price of a few rolls of film * Rush the free Eurailpass color
brochure to:
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. State
tnrtav tn Funrilna^ Rnv O Sfatpn Ulanrl N V 1010S
Books
ed that new life forms were emerging from
it spontaneously, demanding welfare and
voting rights.”
This is an uncharacteristically earth-
bound performance for Adams, who until
now has needed the limitless expanses of
the universe to let him leap backward and
forward through space, time and mean-
ing. Still, Fish is the best evidence yet that
Adams is not simply a funny sci-fi writer
but a bomb-heaving satirist. Consider the
spaceship that lands in central London,
demolishing Harrods and disgorging a ro-
bot that demands, “Take me to your Liz-
ard.” On its world, Ford Prefect explains,
“the people are people. The lizards are liz-
ards. The people hate the lizards and the
lizards rule the people.” The system, he
says, is called democracy. But why do the
people vote for the lizards? “Because if
they didn’t vote for a lizard, the wrong liz-
ard might get in.”
The book ends with the discovery not
of the dolphins but of God’s Final Message
to His Creation, which is about as defini-
tive an ending as any author could invent.
Does this mean that Adams may now be
too busy creating screenplays and interac-
tive computer software to write yet anoth-
er sequel? He and his publishers are silent
as the Sorth of Bragadox on that question.
Yet Adams did begin the series on a note of
finality — the destruction of the earth —
and Arthur Dent still enjoyed a few qua-
drillion light-years of travels. Besides,
where in the history of the universe is it
written that a trilogy must contain only
four volumes? — By Donald Morrison
Best Sellers
FICTION
1. If Tomorrow Comes, Sheldon
( l last week )
2. The Life and Hard Times of Heidi
Abromowitz, Rivers (3)
3. The Talisman, King and Straub (2)
4. Thinner, Bachman
5. So Long, and Thanks for All the
Fish, Adams (5)
6. The Sicilian, Puzo (4)
7. See You Later Alligator,
Buckley (10)
8. Glitz, Leonard (7)
9. Love and War, Jakes
10. The Finishing School, Godwin (9)
NONFICTION
1. Iacocca: An Autobiography,
Iacocca (1)
2. Weight Watchers Quick Start
Program Cookbook, Nidetch (5)
3. Citizen Hughes, Drosnin (8)
4. Loving Each Other, Buscaglia (2)
5. Women Coming of Age,
Fonda (3)
6. What They Don’t Teach You at
Harvard Business School,
McCormack (6)
7. Nothing Down, Allen (4)
8. The One Minute Sales Person,
Johnson and Wilson (7)
9. The Frugal Gourmet, Smith (9)
10. Pieces of My Mind, Rooney
Computed by TIME from more than 1,000 participating bookstores.
‘Price based on average cost of 35mm color film
B8
TIME, MARCH 11, 1985
By D. C. Denison
(rUW_
SoaAaN
"TuaevvVy
'l&ollS
In 1978, Douglas Adams, a
24-yea r-dd graduate of Cam-
bridge University, began writ-
ing a BBC radio serial. It was
called The Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy, and it quickly
attracted a cult following. In
the years since, Adams has
expanded the project to in-
clude four books, a TV series,
two records, a stage show, and
a computer game. We spoke
on a balcony overlooking the
lobby of the Hyatt Regency Ho-
tel in Cambridge.
1 . Do you ever regret, for
plot purposes, that you
blew up the Earth early in
the first book?
Yes, but it just seemed to be
too good a joke not to do. But
it has been a problem. Right
at the word “go,” I got rid of
the framework which I would
normally share with the read-
er. So since then, I’ve had to
invent absolutely everything.
Douglas Adams
John Thimack;. The Boston Globe
2. Are you a fan of classic
science fiction, like Dune ?
I’ve read Dune and some oth-
er obvious ones, but I’m not
really a science-fiction buff.
Largely I find — and this is hardly news —
that an awful lot of it is just not well-writ-
ten. I do have an incredible number of sci-
ence-fiction novels at home, because people
keep giving them to me. I’ve read the first
20 pages of most of them.
3. You are always described as hav-
ing a cult following. Do you think
that’s true?
Not really. Somebody once said that a cult
is what happens when everybody goes out
to buy a book, each of them thinking that
they’re the only one who knows about it.
But the Hitchhiker books have sold about
seven million copies. And that ain’t a cult.
4. Your publisher sent out a list of 10
“suggested interview questions.” Did
you come up with these?
Well, the publisher says, “We’ve thought of
some areas, and are those okay areas?” But
I kind of get fed up with being asked,
“Where did you first get the idea for the
Hitchhiker series?” Actually, I now have a
sort of practiced reaction to being asked
that question, and that is to scream very
loudly and lunge with a knife.
5. Are you embarrassed to come from
the same country as Benny Hill?
Oh, yes. In England, for years, it seemed
D. C. DENISON IS A BOSTON-BASED WRITER. EACH
WEEK HE POSES 21 QUESTIONS TO A NOTABLE
PERSON.
‘We have a major national resource in England
— irony — which you take for granted until
you find a place where they haven’t got any.”
almost as if he was dead. You know, he was
a has-been comic. But then his shows start-
ed to run again on TV, obviously with rath-
er large budgets, and no one could work out
what was going on. And then the rumor got
around that he’d become a star in America.
And no one could believe this. And now
that I’ve seen it, I still can’t believe it. I
mean it’s just such absolute schlock.
6. Why did you decide to do a comput-
er-game version of Hitchhiker ?
At first, all I knew about computer games
were those games where you shoot down
spaceships and pursue little aliens around
mazes. But, really, I didn’t have either the
interest or the hand-eye coordination for
those. But then I got a computer, and slow-
ly I began to get seriously hooked. Then I
happened upon the games by Infocom, and
I immediately saw that these were differ-
ent. I felt at home.
7. Which games were you impressed
with, in particular?
The one I spent a lot of time with, and actu-
ally solved, was Suspended, by Michael
Berlyn. And that’s the only one I’ve actual-
ly solved. Most of the other games I’ve sort
of dipped into, because once I got the hang
of it, I was more interested in writing
games than with playing them.
8* Didn’t you work on a project with
Atari?
Yes, briefly, before everything
there went down the drain.
They were kind of interested
in doing some sort of game, so
I would go up to their head-
quarters, in San Jose, for a
meeting with a few people.
And it would go terrifically,
and everybody would be very
pleased, and then a couple of
days later I’d read in the paper
that all the people that I’d
talked to had been sacked.
Then a few weeks later I’d
have another meeting with an-
other bunch of people, and it
all looked terrific and great,
and then the next day I’d read
that they’d all been sacked. So
after a while I just got bored
with it and started talking
with somebody else.
9. Do you plan to contin-
ue working with comput-
ers?
Definitely. I really enjoyed
working on this game so
much. I feel that it has sort of
given me a whole new lease
on life. There was a stage,
about a year ago, when I felt
that, well, I’ve had all these
successful books, and I was going to have
to write more books — which is good, let’s
not knock it — and then maybe movies or
TV. I had all of these things to do. But still,
I kind of felt like the 6-year-old kid who
says, “Mommy, I don’t know what to do.”
Then I got involved with computers, which
suddenly seemed to be one of the most ex-
traordinary resources for imagination. I’ve
just become totally engrossed, and now
there seem to be more things to do than I
could possibly encompass.
10. I know that you were a member
of the theater group the Footlights
Club at Cambridge University. Did
that have a big influence on your ear-
ly career?
Well, it’s not so much that being a member
of Footlights gives you a guaranteed entree
into show business, which a lot of people
kind of assume simply because so many
people have come out of it. The reason why
so many people of that type have come out
of it is because they’ve gone into it. Cer-
tainly in my experience, when I was decid-
ing on what kind of university career I was
going to have, I wanted to go to Cambridge
because I wanted to do Footlights — main-
ly because I knew I had a reasonable oppor-
tunity to meet people of like mind. It’s not
so much that it guarantees you anything
once you get there. It’s just sort of a rally-
ing flag. Continued on page 16
Twenty-one
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
11. Who are the famous
alumni of Footlights?
Let’s see: Peter Cook, John
Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric
Idle, Jonathan Miller, Peter
Hall, Trevor Nunn, and most of
the heads of the major televi-
sion departments in England.
It’s pretty pervasive in English
TV, actually.
12. Before you wrote
Hitchhiker, did you really
work as a bodyguard for Qa-
tar’s royal family?
Just briefly. I sat outside their I
hotel room for 12 hours a night j
while they watched television.
It wasn’t difficult — you stand
up, sit down, open a door, close
a door, you bow. And if some-
one comes along with a gun or a
hand grenade, you run away.
1 3 . Who were your heroes
growing up?
Pretty much the Beatles.
14. Any Americans?
As far as American musicians
are concerned, Paul Simon. I
learned to play the guitar by lis-
tening to his records. I was al-
ways a great admirer of his mu-
sic, and then once when I was in
New York I decided I’d really
like to meet this guy. So I was
put in touch with one of his
aides, and the guy phoned me
up and said, “I’m sure we can
fix this up. No problem.” And
we chatted, and it was very
pleasant, and then at the end of
the talk he just said, “Oh, by
the way, one thing I have to ask
you: How tall are you?” And I
said, “I’m 6-foot-5.” And he
said, “Sorry, forget it.” From
that moment, I began to feel
not quite the same way about '
Simon.
January 20, 1985
15. You’ve recently been
traveling in Australia. How
did you like it?
I loved it. It was like what I ex-
pected California to be like. I
mean, I hated California. I lived
for seven months in Los Ange-
les, and I could not bear it. But
Australia seemed to be what
California ought to be like, in
that it was just full of a lot of .
energy, enthusiasm, sun, and
sea. And it’s still at the point
where people still have real en-
ergy and enthusiasm. It hasn’t
been sort of corrupted into just
status, money, and power.
16. Why didn’t you like
Califonxia?
Because we have a major na-
tional resource in England,
which you kind of take for
granted until you find a place
where they haven’t got any,
and that’s irony. Actually, con-
versations become very difficult
after a while, because people
will say the most extraordinary
things, and then you realize that
that is precisely what they
mean, nothing more or less. It’s
just so relentlessly superficial.
17. Do you think there are
major differences between
British and American hu-
mor?
People talk a lot about the dif-
ferences, but I think they’re
more apparent than real. I’ve
discovered that the people who
tell you that the American audi-
ence doesn’t respond to English
humor tend to be the TV pro-
ducers who feel that they’ve
created the American taste;
Le., they’ve told the American
public what to laugh at. If you
watch the sort of less-good
American TV, for example, you
get all these shows that are full
of jokoids, instead of jokes.
IS. What is a jokoid?
Well, somebody will say some-
thing in a particular tone of
voice. Then there’ll be camera
shots of reactions from other
members of the cast who do a
take. Then they push the but-
ton for the laugh trade, and
then your trained audience
laughs. They don’t Jmow quite
why, but they know that some-
thing funny has supposedly hap-
pened. That’s a jokoid.
19. Are you planning any
more Hitchhiker books?
Fm going to leave Hitchhiker
alone for a bit and go and do
other stuff. I’m primarily a
comedy writer, and I think now,
when 1 write Hitchhiker, so
much of my energy has to go
into finding ways not to repeat
myself and not going stale. It’s
like when your garden is full of
snow, and it’s all footprints
now, and you’ve got to find bits
that you haven’t walked on. So
I’m anxious to start with a com-
pletely fresh sheet of snow and
do something new. That’s not
to say that it won’t be possible
to come back to it after a while,
after a fresh snowfall.
20. What projects are you
working on now?
Fm working on a draft of a
screenplay for Hitchhiker, and
a project with the Muppets —
to promote computer literacy
— which has been a real plea-
sure. The [Jim] Henson organi-
zation is full of the nicest possi- |
ble people, doing the silliest !
possible things. It could not be
more delightful, because f
they’ve actually kept hold of r
what they started with, j
They’ve protected it all the way [
up, which is a difficult trick.
21. Do you think you’ll j
continue to write in the sci-
ence-fiction genre?
Fm going to try and not do sci-
ence fiction, but it tends to kind
of creep in a little bit, because I
have this tendency to exagger-
ate wildly. That’s where it came
from in the first (dace. A guy
gets his house knocked down,
and what’s the cap? Well, the
Earth then gets demolished for
exactly the same reasons. I was
just making the point that he’s
having a really bad day. And
once you’ve done that, of
course, once you’ve cleared the
Earth out of the way, well, ei-
ther you’re doing science fic- f
tk>n, or the story is suddenly
finished. So every time 1 try to
think of an idea that isn’t sci j .
ence fiction at all, I fiddle with
this and that, and suddenly j
there are science-fiction bits
getting in there. So maybe 1
shouldn’t fight it too much. •
*
STARLOG EXCLUSIVE
DOUGLAS ADAMS
The creator of "Hitch Hikers Guide to the
Galaxy” & "The Restaurant at the End of the
universe” comes down to Earth for a little
alien chit-chat
By SUSAN ADAMO
I eneath Douglas Adams’ tall, tame
exterior is an unstoppable vitality. At
29, he has already created a universe
where an infinite number of monkeys work
out scripts for Hamlet and lab mice are “hy-
per-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings.”
Such is life in The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy, his chef s i lend of comedy and
science fiction which, in many forms, has de-
lighted British audiences and which arrived
on the American shore this year as a radio
series and fast selling novel. Adams’ first ink-
ling of this strange world came, appropriately
enough, while he was hitchhiking through
Europe.
4 ‘The title came to me years ago just before
I went off to University.* I had a copy of a
book called Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Europe
which I’d carry around with me, which was a
useful book. And I remember lying drunk in
a field in Innsbruck one night ....
“I sort of laid down on the ground and
stared up at the stars and it occurred to me
then that somebody ought to write a hitch
hiker’s guide to the galaxy. The thought
didn’t come back to me for years afterward.
“I suppose for some time after I became a
writer,” Adams says, “I just thought that
science fiction would be a good vehicle for
comedy. It took me a long time actually to
convince anybody else of this and I tried it in
all sorts of forms and guises. It wasn’t until I
suddenly remembered this title [Hitch
Hiker’s Guide] and put it together with the
more general aspects of the idea that the thing
actually started to come together. It started
out in radio ”
The Rlngo Starr Show*
Before it came together, Adams made sev-
eral attempts at creating a successful combi-
I nation of science fiction and comedy — some
of them in collusion with Monty Python’s
[ Graham Chapman.
“We were once commissioned to write a
one-hour American TV special for Ringo
Starr and that was a science fiction/comedy
show and the working title [when it was drop-
‘Cambridge University where Adams was a
member of “The Footlights,” a student group
which helped launch numerous British comedy
writers and actors.
v
SF/comedy writer Douglas Adams.
ped] was, rather originally I thought, The
Ringo Starr Show. Yes,” Adams laughs, “it
took us some time to come up with that one.”
Adams also teamed with John Lloyd, who
later catapulted into television comedy his-
tory as producer of Britain’s top-ranked TV
show, Not the Nine O ’Clock News. They col-
laborated on a film treatment for the Robert
Stigwood Organization.
“We worked on this film treatment for
quite a while and everything seemed to be go-
ing very well. Then, the Stigwoods finally
dropped it for three reasons — one of which is
‘Who is Douglas Adams?’, the second of
which is ‘Who is John Lloyd?’ and third, they
really didn’t think there was any market for
science-fiction films which is a curious
thought.”
Disheartened after a succession of short-
lived jobs which included directing a play and
guarding a royal Arabian family, Adams
retreated to his parents’ home in Dorset,
England, where, against a backdrop of seclu-
sion, Hitch Hiker’s began its chain of multi-
births.
Briefly, the story he created is about an
electronic book also named The Hitch
Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. According to
the (fictitious) novel’s prologue:
”... the Hitch Hiker’s Guide has already
supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Ga/ac-
tica as the standard repository of all know-
ledge and wisdom, for though it has many
omissions and contains much that is apocry-
phal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores
over the older, more pedestrian work in two
important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly, it
has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in
large, friendly letters on its cover.”
* Ford Prefect, from the planet Betelguese
l (pronounced “beetlejuice”), is Hitch Hiker’s
| “roving reporter” who, with the aid of an
i electronic thumb and towel, travels the Uni-
| verse updating and supplementing the
| Guide's entries. Prefect saves Arthur Dent
“ moments before Dent’s home planet, Earth,
| is vaporized by alien spacecraft paving the
way for an intergalactic freeway. Hitch
Hiker’s is the story of that rescue and Dent
and Prefect’s subsequent adventures, which
include a hitch on the Heart of Gold— a star-
ship powered by Improbability Drive, with its
crew of Zaphod Beeblebrox, (the two-
headed, ex-hippie president of the Universe)
his girlfriend Trillian (nee Tricia McMillan)
and the ever-droning, totally depressed Mar-
vin the Paranoid Android. Everybody ends
up at The Restaurant at the End of the
Universe (the title of Hitch Hiker’s sequel
novel) but not until “The Question of Life,
the Universe and Everything” is entered into
the computer called Deep Thought.
“When I was writing the first of Hitch
Hiker’s down in Dorset,” Adams reveals, “1
would leave notes to myself to find later, say-
ing, ‘If you ever get the chance to do a proper,
regular job— take it. This is not the occupa-
tion for a growing healthy lad.’ I’d find
another note under that saying, ‘This is not
written after a bad day. It is written after an
average day.’ ”
When he’s writing, Adams admittedly
aligns himself with the paranoid Marvin.
“It’s a terrible business, it really is,” he says
earnestly. “You’re sort of stuck in a room by
yourself for hours on end, just trying to be-
lieve you’re not hopeless, actually. You
know, I’ve done it so far and it’s worked so
far. People have liked it and it’s been alright.
But, you look at the piece of paper and you
can’t think of anything to put on it and —
You’ve got something! Then you read it, say
‘God, that’s awful] And you cross it out and
you sort of keep this up for hours and it’s
pretty demoralizing until, suddenly, you get
on a streak. And, that doesn’t happen very
often. Pathetic business,” he laughs. “It real-
ly is.” ►-
STARLOG/yune 1981 29
While waiting for BBC Radio 4 to accept
Hitch Hiker’s , Adams sent a copy of the
first script to Bob Holmes, then story editor
of Dr. Who. The two met, discussed potential
storylines and another wait began.
“I was getting pretty nervous and sud-
denly, in the same week, I was commissioned
for the whole series of Hitch Hiker’s plus a
commission to write four episodes for Dr.
Who (, Pirate Planet).
“Really, from that moment, which must
have been late 76-77 until the end of 1980, 1
didn’t have a day off. I mean,” he shrugs, “it
was sort of panic-time continually.”
Adams describes working on the radio,
series as “small and handleable” and a “very
intimate” way of making shows.
“I was the only person who knew actually
what I intended and what it was meant to
sound like so I was very heavily involved in
the production. The producer (Geoffrey
Perkins) was very tolerant from that point of
view which not all producers would be. Some
producers tend to be very defensive, protec-
tive of their jobs.
“The first two shows took an immensely
long time to make because we were dealing
with techniques that none of us knew about
or how to set about making. Then, this sort of
system evolved on how to make it. After a
while, I took more and more of a backseat
simply because now everyone knew how to
do it. But, I was still always there just sort of
putting my own in and making trouble.”
Adams does confess to a few close calls at
the BBC radio studios and to stretching
studio protocol if just a bit.
“There was a long sound effect in episode
two [of the Heart of Gold going into Impro-
bability Drive] which took us two days to
do . . . which is totally unheard of at the BBC
because, at the BBC on the whole, a standard
radio comedy show will tend to be rehearsed
in an afternoon, recorded in front of an audi-
ence that evening and edited the next day and
that’s it.
“There were questions delicately being
asked about what in the hell we thought we
were doing," Adams says, “taking over
studio after studio; editing channel after edit-
ing channel; hours and hours and hours; days
and days. If we hadn’t come up with the
goods at the end of it, our heads would be
rolling. But luckily, it turned out okay.” So
well, in fact, that the BBC rebroadcast the
series four more times, while approving pro-
duction of a second one.
“I was terrified of doing the second series
because the first time around it was only me in
my private little world writing this thing and
the second time around it was really all the
eyes of the world upon you. It was like run-
ning down the street naked trying to write this
stuff,” Adams says flatly. “I just kept put-
ting it off and putting it off and letting other
things get on top of me. Eventually, the de-
partment heads were getting a bit stroppy be-
cause they wanted to know when in the hell
they were going to get the series.”
To add to this mad dash, Adams had
simultaneously accepted the job as Dr.
Who’s Story Editor while producing yet
another radio program. (“Black Cinderella
Two Goes East”). At one point, he com-
mitted himself and the cast and crew of Hitch
Hiker’s to put out a show a night for five con-
secutive evenings— a schedule that made the
color fade from producer Perkins’ face.
“He knew how slow I was being and he just
didn’t think I’d get it done,” Adams says.
“But we went into production with me being
actually just a couple of lines ahead of the cast
in the writing,” he admits with a broad smile,
adding, “In the last program, literally, they
were recording one scene whilst I was in the
next room writing the next one.”
The atmosphere at Dr. Who’s production
offices wasn’t much more relaxing. Adams
explains, “The crazy thing about the show,
one of the things which led to my feelings of
frustration, was basically doing 26 episodes a
year with one producer and one script editor.
It’s one hell of a workload. I mean, it’s not
like any another drama series. Say, you’re
doing a police drama series. You know what a
police car looks like and you know what the
police station in the area looks like; you know
what the streets look like, what burglars, cri-
minals do. With Dr. Who, with every new
story, you have to reinvent totally but be con-
sistent with what’s gone before. Doing 26
shows in one year, when each one has to be
totally new in some extraordinary way, was a
major problem. And there’s no money to do
it with. I mean, in real terms, Dr. Who ’s bud-
get has been shrinking. Somehow or another,
you have to keep up with the goods. Twenty-
six a year is too many. I was doing that and
also writing Dr. Who and also writing Hitch
Hikers — both the radio and book at the same
time and I was going out of my tiny mind. I
really was. So, I’ve slowed down a bit now.”
The tv Series
When STAR LOG spoke with Adams, five
episodes of the Hitch Hiker’s TV series had
been aired in England with the final show just
four days away from being broadcast.
Adams is “very pleased” with the finished
product and the enthusiastic response he’s
received.
“I think one of the challenges of it, what
has made it really work, is the fact that it is so
impossible to transfer from radio to tele-
vision. That is, it actually set so many prob-
lems and we had to find creative answers to all
those problems in a way you wouldn’t have to
if you were writing a show like that or some-
thing similar for television immediately
“To a certain extent, the medium dictates
the style of the show and transferring from
one to the other means you’re going against
the grain for the whole time. It’s the point
where you go against the grain that you come
up with the best bits. So, it’s actually turned
into a very rich show. The bits that were the
easiest to transfer were actually the least inter-
esting bits of the TV show. But, there are
some terrific things.”
A central role in the radio series is the nar-
rator who reads pieces of the Guide and cites
Universal history. Transferring this part to
television posed a problem since the obvious
choice of going with a “verbose narrator” on
screen didn’t excite Adams.
“Eventually, we came up with the idea of
using read-outs from the book itself done in
computer graphics form and actually supply-
ing with the computer graphics a great deal of
additional information. So, you get little
drawings, diagrams, flashing out and all the
words that the narrator is saying, plus further
expansion— other little details and footnotes
—all coming at you from the screen. I mean,
you just can’t keep up with it.
“I like the sort of program where, when
you get to the end of it, you feel you didn’t get
it all. There are very few programs like that.
There’s so many programs that are half-an-
hour long and at the end of it you're half-an-
hour further into your life with nothing to
show for it. If you actually feel you didn’t get
it all, I find that stimulating.”
Another imaginative answer resolved the
problem of portraying the two-headed
Zaphod Beelblebrox, played by actor Mark
Wing-Davey. The special effects department
constructed a radio-controlled head molded
from Wing-Davey’s “own personal head,”
Adams explains, which had the capacity to
move right and left, up and down.
“The trouble was, we eventually found the
head wasn’t as effective in the show as it was
in rehearsal,” Adams recalls. “Everytime
something went wrong with his head, which is
a very delicate mechanism and sometime it
would get stuck in one sort of way or another,
to get it working properly you’d actually have
to spend an hour taking it apart and putting it
back together again and we didn’t have that
hour. So, we just sort of fudged it as best we
could.”
Although" the cost of producing the first
TV series cast a doubt as to whether a second
series would be made, Adams suggests, one
way or another, it will happen.*
In January, 1981, Adams made his first
visit to the U.S. Preceding his arrival, Har-
mony Books released the American hard-
cover edition of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy and interest in the paperback
rights looked very positive. By March,
member stations of the National Public I
Radio began broadcasting the much-delayed I
radio series.
Though his first week here has been mar-
red by an ear infection, Adams has good feel- I
ings about his stay so far. “I really don’t have
the desire to return to London,” he says. I
“Everyone’s depressed there and nobody’s I
doing anything about it. I mean, there’s less
and less to go around and everyone’s just sort I
of squabbling at what there is rather than I
making more. It’s crazy. I could envisage ac- I
tually living in America,” he explains. “You I
fed energy and enthusiasm here. Even rude
waiters are enthusiastic.” * I
‘As to whether the first television series will bJ I
brought to the States, Adams says that’s a deal that I
would be made through the BBC. Startoggers may
be able to hasten Its arrival by writing to the net- I
works and local television stations informing them I
of the BBC series and encouraging them to bring it I
to the U.S.
30 STARLOG /June 1981
Newsdav - February 14, 1982
The Menu Is Full of Guffaws
n THE RESTA URANTAT
THE END OF THE UNI-
VERSE,” by Douglas Ad-
ams ( Harmony Books, 256
PP-, $7J95 ).
Reviewed by Don Lessem
Forty-two. That is the answer.
The question? What is the meaning
of "Life, the Universe, and Every-
thing."
Seeking the answer to this su-
able query in this novel are Zaphod
Beedlebrox, two-headed former gal-
axy president and starship thie£
and his motley crew of fellow space
and time travelers. Foremost in the
bunch is Arthur Dent, last of the
EarthlingB, and author of the inter-
galactic best- seller, The Hitch-
hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
(Megadodo Publications). Dent has
escaped this vale of tears in the
nick of time, before Earth was de-
molished to make way for a hyper-
space bypass.
The quest for truth brings Beed-
lebrox and Dent in too-doae contact
with all manner of star bores and
■pacey characters; a neurotic eleva-
tor that is afraid of the future, a
rock star who is playing dead for a
year to avoid taxes, a God who
spends Infinity in a shark starinv
at his soup. Star trekking nl«n
brings our heroes to the grand
eatery of the title, a swank cabaret
suspended in time where the floor
show is the destruction of the Uni-
verse. Dent emerges from the scene
suffering nothing worse than a stiff
cover charge. And in the. end (or is
it our beginning?\ we leave him
teaching Scrabble to our earliest
a n cestors. And he haa discovered
the Question; "What is 6 x 9?"
Wrong answers are right, after alL
This isn’t science fiction, it’s lu-
nacy, an3 an inspired bit of lunacy
at that. The author is a one-time
Cambridge Bcholar and lately a
writer for those Britannic buffoons,
Monty Python. Adams’ first* foray
into sci-fi farce, the genuine "Hitch-
hiker’s Guide to the Universe," was
the best-selling book in England a
few months back. It is now a radio
series here, and soon to be a televi-
sion special on both sides of the At-
lantic.
But one journey with Beetlebrox
and chums evidently wasn’t enough
to exorcise the creative demons in
Adams’ i m a gin ation. For that we
can be grateful. There are many
guffaws on the menu of the last
Restaurant, and enough clever
twists of language and cosmology to
make the Theory of Relativity look
like Cliffs Notes.
Reserve your seat at The Restau-
rant at the End of the Universe.
There’ll be a memorable meal.
Don Lessem, a Boston-based
naturalist and humorist, is au-
thor of"Aerphobics: The Scien-
tific Way to Stop Exercising ."
The Wall Street Journal - June 18, 1982
Consider the Plight of Arthur Dent,
Routed by an Inter galactic Freeway
By Mary Bralove
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Scene: a spaceship filled with public-rela-
tions executives, personnel managers, man-
agement consultants and “tired TV produc-
ers.” They are colonists on a planet that
turns out to be Earth two million years ago.
They have problems. “Five hundred and
seventy-three committee meetings and you
haven’t even discovered fire yet,” exclaims
Ford Prefect, a major character in the
story. Responds a colonist: “When you’ve
been in marketing as long as I have, you’ll
know that before any new product can be
developed it has to be properly researched.
“We’ve got to find out what people want
from fire, how they relate to it, what sort of
image it has for them.”
'And that is the flavor of two books by
Englishman Douglas Adams- “T he Hi tch-
hiker’ s Guide to the Galaxy” a nd ‘‘The Res-
tauran t 'at the End of t he JJni verse ’ ’ - that
have become cult reading among college
students and some executives.
Gifts for Friends
Rosemary Bruner, director of community ‘
affairs for Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., admits
to “running around like an idiot” giving cop-
ies to her friends and colleagues. And Ar-
nold Brown, a management consultant,
urges corporate clients to forget the belea-
guered state of the economy for a while and
consider instead the plight of Arthur Dent.
The hapless Mr. Dent is the hero. Res-
cued from Earth seconds before the planet
is destroyed to make way for an intergalac-
tic freeway, he undergoes a series of adven-
tures with wacky philosophical overtones.
The guide offers portentous advice such
as, “Don’t panic,” and poses questions such
as, “Why do we live?” “Why do we die?”
and, “Why do we spend so much time in be-
tween wearing digital watches?”
Zarty and Weird
“Hitchhiker” and “Restaurant” are the
hottest sellers in the history of Harvard
Square’s Science Fantasy Book Store.
Around the country, “Hitchhiker” has sold
more than 200,000 paperback copies. One
youthful aficionado explains the books’ pop-
ularity thus: “They’re zany, nonrespectable
and weird.”
Mr. Adams is a graduate of Cambridge
University who, according to a book jacket,
has worked as a chicken-shed cleaner and
bodyguard as well as writer. In a fashion
typical of the book, the jacket discloses that
he “is not married, has no children and does
not live in Manhattan.”^
Technology baffles in the Adams uni-
verse. In a memorable passage, Ford Pre-
fect and a “marketing girl” discuss the in-
vention of the wheel. “We’re having a little
difficulty there,” she says. Mr. Prefect can’t
see why.
“All right, Mr. Wiseguy,” she responds,
“you’re so clever, you tell us what color it
should be.”
Among College Stu^ nncHHI1(! « «»j
TO
the°hottest novel
the HITCHHIKER’S
of bestsellerdom! ep j S odes of THE
„„ *• * 'SiS » * ’
— HITCHHIKER’S GUI dur j n g October.
^ installments nat.onw, , has infer-
_ OiaM!^ S Member Issue
*# viewedDousias ginning October 1
_ Q 0U glas Adams will tour nat.o * uNlVE RSE
W of A third volume, LIFE, I n London ,
W And there’s more. A t^^ a #1 bestse^^ ia
♦ T0 r» E «^£*.8sr°
SS0SSWS-" or "• U "T. booK.1
^ %N.CI mere’* — *° *
POCKFT ^ ROOli
s Adams
Douglas Adams
Send your order to:
NACSCORP
528 E. Lorain St.
Oberlin. Ohio 44074
SHIPTO: BILLTO:
Name
Address
City State
Zip
Printed in USA
v* -
m
4
n
PRINTED IN U S A
POCKET BOOKS
contact: Carol Fass
212 - 496-7886
REVIEWERS RAVE ABOUT "HITCHHIKER 11 AND "RESTAURANT 11 !
Here's what they're saying about THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY:
"One of the funniest of all cult classics." ^
-- Cincinnati Enquirer
"It's science fiction and it's extremely funny; a rare and precious
conjunction. . .inspired lunacy." -- Washington Post
"Fans of absurd deadpan parody will happily flip through this likeable
send-up in order to extract a couple of dozen fine giggles."
-- Kirk us
"Hilarious and irrepressibly cl ever . . . enthus i ast i cal 1 y recommended ... one
of the best pieces of science fiction humor to be produced this: year."
-- Library Journal
"A delightful little spoof of all this space seriousness and space
science." --Cleveland Plain Dealer
"This is an uproarious bit of nonsense.
--San Francisco Chronicle
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE has garnered this praise:
"Once you start reading either book (or both at once), you will be
hooked into a stream-of-consciousness brand of creative insanity
rivaling 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' for sheer chutzpah."
-- Los Angeles Herald Exam -
i ner
"This isn't science fiction, it's lunacy, and an inspired bit of lunacy
at that ... Reserve your seat at The Restaurant at the End of the Uni-
verse. There'll be a memorable meal." -- Newsday
"This is one of the best pieces of science fiction humor available."
-- Library Journal
I "As parody, it's marvelous; as humor, it's well, hysterical."
--Knight News Service
Anne Maitland, Director of Publicity and Public Relations, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 (212) 246-2121
INrLWo r ivUlVl
POCKET
THE INTERGALACTIC ROMP CONTINUES IN
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE ,
DOUGLAS ADAMS' ZANY SEQUEL TO THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
CONTACT: Carol Fass 212-496-7886
BOCKS
"Once you start reading .. .you will be hook-
ed into a stream-of-consciousness brand of
creative insanity rivaling 'Alice's Adven-
tures in Wonderland' for sheer chutzpah."
— Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
"This isn't science fiction, it's lunacy,
and an inspired bit of lunacy at that...
Reserve your seat at The Restaurant at The
End of the Universe . There'll be a
memorable meal."
— Newsday
"As parody, it's marvelous; as humor, it's
well, hysterical."
— Kirkus Reviews
The manic adventures of the lovable
hitchhiker crew continue unabated as they
pursue the Ultimate Question to the Ulti-
mate Answer of Life in THE RESTAURANT AT
THE END OF THE UNIVERSE, Douglas Adams'
zany sequel to THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
Back traipsing around the universe are: Arthur Dent, the mild manner-
ed, slightly out-to-lunch human who just barely escaped when the Earth was
demolished to make way for a hyper-space bypass; Ford Prefect, his alien
rescuer and unflappable researcher for that monument of reference works,
I THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY; Trillian, the seductive
MORE . . .
Anne Maitland, Director of Publicity and Public Relations, 123(1 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NA 10020 (212) 246-2121
- 2 -
earthling who has told Arthur to buzz off; and Zaphod Beeblebrox,
her two-headed, three-armed boyfriend who also just happens to be the
ex-president of the galaxy.
Unfortunately separated from one another by the evil and tacky Vogons,
the friends encounter paranoid androids, existential elevators, improbabi-
lity drives and kill-o-zap blasters enroute to a reunion at Milliways, the
restaurant at the end of the universe. A popular hang-out, the restaurant
features main courses that introduce themselves and a floor show which stars
Armageddon, but even these temptations can't sway the foursome from seeking
the Ruler of the Universe and ending up on a planet that looks suspiciously
like the Earth of two million years ago.
Originally radio scripts for a popular BBC program, THE HITCHHIKER'S
GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE have gone
on in England to become not only bestselling books, but a television series,
two record albums and a stage show as well. In the United States, the
radio series has been aired twice by National Public Radio, and PBS will
air the BBC television program, tentatively starting this October 30th. A
third title in the 'hitchhiker' series, LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING,
will be published in hardcover this fall by Harmony Books. Pocket Books,
which published THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY in 1981, and is bring-
ing out THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE this October, has already
purchased the paperback rights to this third title.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Cambridge in 1952, Douglas Adams graduated from St. John's
College in Cambridge in 1974. There he was active in the highly regarded
'Footlights Club," an organization well-known for its productions of comedy
and satire, whose alumni include Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Dudley Moore
and John Cleese. After college he wrote and produced material for a number
of TV and radio shows before becoming firmly established as a cult hero with
the BBC program of "HITCHHIKER" and the publication of his three books.
Douglas Adams presently lives in England.
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE by Douglas Adams
Pub Date: October 1982
ISBN#: 44268-6
Price: $2.95
NEWS FROM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Carol Fass
2 12/496-7886
✓s
POCKET BOOKS
— ITCHH t KEJR S_GUIDE TO THE CALAXY AND THE RESTAURANT AT THE END
OF THE UNIVERSE, TWO ZANY POCKET BOOKS TITLES BY DOUGLAS ADAMS
RECEIVE NATIONAL EXPOSURE ON PRIME-TIME TELEVISION AND RADIO.
The cult phenomenon of Douglas Adams’ THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
and THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE will reach new heights this fall as
these wild and zany hooks continue to capture the imagination of millions on both
•sides oT the Atlantic. National prime-time television and radio have caught
HITCHHIKER fever. Starting on October 30, PBS-TV will air the seven-part BBC
television series based on THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY . Meanwhile, National
Public Radio, which first debuted in America the wildly successful BBC radio program
m March 1981, has already responded to listener requests and rebroadcast the
program to its 260 member stations beginning, this past July.
Pocket Books published THE HITCHHIKER’ S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY in paperback in
1981, and will publish THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OK THE UNIVERSE this October.
Harmony Books, which published both books in hardcover, will bring out the third
book in the series LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING in October. Pocket Books
has already purchased paperback rights.
•he history oi the books is almost as unusual as the books themselves. Originallv
radio scripts, THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and THE RESTAURANT AT THE END
OF THE UNIVERSE started as a six-episode program for the BBC which began broad-
casting in March 1978. The series was so popular that BBC requested additional
scripts and Adams prepared eight more segments for them. It is this original twelve-
part radio program that went on to become not just two bestselling books, but a
tiUvision sei ies, a record album, and a stage show as well. In fact , HITCHHIKER,
the book, was so successful in England LhaL when RESTAURANT, the second of the
MORE . . .
Anne Maitland. Director of Publicity and Public Kt lations, 12.30 Avenue of the Americas. New York. NA 10020 (212) 246-2121
Page 2
books, was first published in England, the two commanded the #1 and #2 spots on
bestseller lists simultaneously with combined sales over one million.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE CALAXY chronicles the adventures of two inter-
stellar space hitchhikers, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Arthur is snatched away
trom Earth by his friend Ford, seconds before Earth is destroyed to make room for
an mtergalactic freeway. Together they journey through the universe, researching
for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , a travel guide to
the universe. This guide offers important advice like "Don’t Panic" and "Always
Bring a Towel." It poses philosophical questions as well — questions such as
’’Why do we live?", "Why do we die?" and "Why do we spend so much time in between
wearing digital watches?"
In THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE, Adams continues their story as
Ford, Arthur and friends search for the Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer,
and for the perfect cup of tea. They spend their time at the Restaurant at the End
of the Universe, which features Armageddon as a floor show.
But even before HITCHHIKER and RESTAURANT started receiving attention, some
crazy men from the Monty Python gang had these words to say about HITCHHIKER:
"Really entertaining and fun."
— John Cleese
Much funnier than anything John Cleese has ever written."
— Terry Jones
I know for a fact John Cleese hasn't read it."
— Graham Chapman
"Who is John Cleese?"
— Eric Idle
"Really entertaining and fun."
— Michael Palin
Since then, American reviewers have responded with the same enthusiasm. Here are
just a few quotes:
About THE HITCHHI^ RJS_^IDJ^ TQ THE GALAXY :
"One of the funniest of all cult classics."
— Ci ncinna ti En quirer
MORE. . .
"This is an uproarious bit of nonsense."
— San Francisco Chronicle
recommended?"' 5 clever. . .enthusiastically
— ‘Library Journal
About THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE, UNIVERSE
hysterical?"' ” arVelous: as huffior - veil,
— Knight News Service
"It’s lunacy, and an inspired bit of lunacy at that Reserve
b y e 0U a r S?™ AT THE ” 0F ® ^^hTre'll
— Newsday
f art r f ading either book ---y° u “ill be hooked into
a stream-consciousness brand of creative insanity
rivaling Alice s Adventures in Wonderland’ for sheer chutzpah ”
~_ios Angeles He raid -Examiner P
Douglas Adams will be on tour in early October for the Pocket Books publication
of THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE. He will also embark on a college
lecture tour in early November. He won't panic, he'll bring a towel and he'll
have the galaxy’s best travel guide.
August 27, 1982
NEWS FROM
POCKET BOOKS
contact: Carol Fass
DOUGLAS ADAMS 212-496-7886
Douglas Noel Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952, the son of a post
graduate theology student and a nurse. He was educated at Brentwood in
Essex and at Cambridge from which he graduated in 1974. While at Cam-
bridge, he became an active member of The Footlights Club, known for its
productions of comedy and satirical sketches, and for launching the ca-
reers of such prominent people as Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Mil-
ler, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman.
During the 1970's, Adams collaborated with many talented writers with
some of these connections coming from his success in Footlights. One of
these was entitled Black Cinderella II Goes East with John Cleese and
Peter Cook playing roles in the production.
Another collaboration involved Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame
who knew of Adams through the Footlights shows and asked Adams to team
up with him on several writing projects. One of their joint ventures
(which never came to fruition) was commissioned by Ringo Starr who wanted
them to write an American TV special. Adams also collaborated with John
Lloyd who later went on to produce the top-ranked British TV show Not
The Nine O'clock News . He also became involved in the successful TV series
Dr - who f or which he wrote several episodes. ( Dr. Who is now being shown
in America through PBS). In addition to the episodes he wrote, Adams
also became a script editor for the series.
Throughout the 70's wile all this was happening, Adams had been struck
with the idea of writing THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO I'THE GALAXY. The idea
had come to him years before on a starry night in Innsbruck while he lay
in a field. He had been travelling about Europe accompanied by his copy
of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe when the idea came to him -- a science
fiction comedy entitled THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY which could
satirize science fiction itself, politicians, bureaucrats, intellectuals,
computers or anything else that might strike him about modern society.
It took six years from that starry night for the BBC to give him
--more--
Anne Maitland, Director of Publicity and Public Relations, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NA 10020 (212) 246-2121
-- 2 --
the go-ahead and he wrote the first episode of HITCHHIKER. In March, 1978,
the show began to air on BBC radio during an off-peak hour with no pub-
licity. The volume of fan mail soon convinced the BBC that not only
did they have a hit on their hands, but a cult was developing. The series
became so popular that it had to be aired four more times. The popular-
ity and demand for HITCHHIKER mushroomed into three books, a television
series, two records and a stageshow. The response in America has been
just as great with National Public Radio broadcasting the series twice,
the PBS-TV airing of the series in the fall of 1982 (tentatively set for
October 30), and the publication of the three books.*
At present, Adams is working on several new books, a stage show, a
feature film of HITCHHIKER, and a children's book. He lives in England.
* ★ *
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Crown, Pocket)
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE (Crown, Pocket : October , 1 982),.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING (Crown: October, 1982; Pocket: 1983)
Pocket Books
Dear
Years ago, Douglas Adams was lying in a field in Innsbruck. With him
was a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe . Says Adams, "I sort
of laid down on the ground and stared up at the stars and it occurred
to me then that somebody ought to write a hitchhiker's guide to the
galaxy." Little did he know that in just a few short years these idle
thoughts would eventually lead to the creation of a cult with millions
of fans on both sides of the Atlantic.
The "hitchhiker" phenomenon started out in England with Adams'
immensely popular radio series, followed by two bestselling books, a
BBC television series, two records and a stageshow. In each case, the
public response was tremendous. For example, the radio series had to
be aired four times! The books, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
and its sequel THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE were simultaneous-
ly #1 and #2 on bestseller lists with HITCHHIKER remaining on the list
for 56 weeks. The combined sales of the books were well over one
million copies.
And this popularity was not just confined to England. As we have
seen with the Beatles, Monty Python , Dr. Who , Beyond The Fringe , and
even "punk," popular British culture travel s we 1 I to the United States.
Americans soon embraced the zany ideas of Douglas Adams with the same
enthusiasm as the British. National Public Radio aired the series
twice and PBS is about to air the BBC TV production beginning tentative-
ly on October 30. Pocket Books published HITCHHIKER in 1981 and will
publish RESTAURANT this October. Crown Publishers, which published
both books in hardcover will publish the conclusion of the trilogy.
Life, The Universe And Everything , this October with the paperback rights
already sold to Pocket. Even the staid Wall Street Journal has taken
note of this mushrooming cult.
Who is the comic genius behind this incredible success story whose
work has been called everything from "creative insanity"* to "inspired
lunacy"?** The creator of this wild view of the universe is 30-year
old Douglas Adams. While at Cambridge, he became involved in Footlights,
the theatrical revue team which launched the careers of such prominent
names as Peter Cook and John Cleese. After being recognized for his
excellent work there, he began to contribute material .to radio and TV
shows. Graham Chapman, of Monty Python fame was one of his col 1 aborators .
One of their joint ventures (which never came to fruition) was commis-
sioned by Ringo Starr who was interested in their writing an American
TV special. Adams also collaborated with John Lloyd who later produced
the top-ranked British TV show Not The Nine O'clock News . He has
also been a script editor and writer for Dr. Who .
On the eve of the PBS production of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The
Galaxy, Douglas Adams will be in the United States. He will be
in on and I hope that we will be able
to set up an interview. You will find him one of the warmest and
most hilarious interview subjects you've had in a long time. I'll call
you soon about Douglas Adams.
*L .A .Herald Examiner
telephone: 212-496-7886
Simon &SchusterBuiiding ** Washington P o s_t
Publicist, Special Projects
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York. NY 10020
212 246 2121
/
PocketBooks
r*
Memo to DIRECT SALES MANAGERS FromRICHARD ADAMONIS
Date 9/29/82
We ve all heard a lot about the excitement and publicity surrounding
Douglas Adams * Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant At the
— 2J: the Universe , and we’ll continue to hear more of it. While
most of this excitement had been generated by our Editorial and
Publicity Departments, it’s time now for the Sales Department to
generate some excitement of its own.
all, it s been the sales of Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
that have provided the basis for all this excitement. As a company ?
we published Hitchiker’s Guide in October, 1981 with a mere 135,000
copies. The reorder activity has been nothing short of phenomonal- —
averaging over 16,000 copies per month, with only 20% returns.
Considering the impact both the states of industry and our economy/
have had on recent reorder levels, to have a title such as this whose
total reorders exceed^- indeed , almost double - ^— ini tial shipments
represents a considerable achievement.
And we fully expect the sale of Restaurant at the End of the Universe
to carry on the banner of success^ With PBS^TV series, a new hardr
cover called Life, the Universe, and Everything , Douglas Adams
has terrific sales potential.
For these reasons, we are happy to announce a new and innovative
contest for both these titles. In the past, our contests depended
solely on individual performance with little or no attention paid
iften a team effort. At sales conferences
the
fact
that
sales
wo
rk
is
we
often
hear
talk o
f
who
' s
the
co lie
c t ion
of ta
le
nt
wi
It
is our
plan
that
th
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co
25,
000 co
pies
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h
o f
th
ass
igned
a f ai
r and
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ual
t
Reg
ional
Sales
Manag
e r
wi
11
tar
get f o
r both titl
es
•
The winn
over eac
both tit
very las
the outc
$ 100.00
Each representative has been
ipon their district. Your
—
ing region will be determined by averaging the percent increase
h representative’s target. You must achieve your target on
les. Everyone must work and strive for reorders until the
t day, one representative’s lack of persistence could damage
ome of the entire region. The winning region will earn
per representative.
Moreover, the representative whose efforts are judged to be the best
nationally will recieve $200.00 for individual effort regardless of
whether his or her region wins.
Simon&Schuster Building
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
212 245 6400
A Division of Gulf & Western Corporation
9/29/30
- Page 2
If the National winner is in the winning region he or she would receive
a total payment of $300.00.
One final note: If your Regional Sales Manager begins to sound like a
poor imitation of Knute Rockne exhorting you to "win this one for the
Gipper , it s only because he fears the possibility that the losing
egional Sales Manager's and regions may be forced to eat quiche at
Sales Conferences.
It's up to you to prevent that tragedy!!
Good Luck,
cc: Regional Sales Managers
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X
ADVENTURE
review
The Riddle of Master Lu
mi t V..'
Designed by Lee Sheldon & Francois Robiliard
Published by Sanctuary Woods
Platform DOS
T ake a world-spanning adventure
as Robert Ripley, of Ripley’s
Believe it or Not! fame, in
Sanctuary Woods’ The Riddle of Master
Lu. Ripley is the struggling curator of his
Hall of Oddities, which features such
works of the weird as a likeness of the
Mona Lisa rendered in tasty burnt toast.
Master Lu puts Ripley on the trail of
Master Lu, who was sent by the First
Emperor of China, Chin Shih Huang-di,
to find the elixir of life (ah, the old
“Quest for the Holy Grail").
The plot in many ways resembles
Raiders of the Lost Ark, as Ripley must
beat out a group of Nazis and Japanese
fascists who want to control the
Emperor’s seal in order to use it to con-
trol China. Lu holds the key to his tomb,
and left bits and pieces of it around when
searching for the elixir. Along the way,
Ripley will find various artifacts and oddi-
ties that will help to fund his hall and his
travels.
Despite the plot’s familiarity, the game
feels fresh and well-paced (with one
exception). By setting the game in various
burial tombs and ancient dwellings, the
designers have integrated the puzzles
seamlessly into the design, rather than
just tacking them on. Everything is in
place to make this an instant classic in
adventure gaming.
Or maybe not. The character of
Ripley is a bit of a problem because, in
his dialogue, voicing, and appearance, he
comes off as something of a dork (the
voice acting throughout is only
mediocre). He’s prone to making really
pseudo-profound and corny statements
like, after finding an ancient toy, “a child
needs toys.” Since the game is taking
some serious dramatic license with
Ripley by turning him into Indiana Jones
incarnate, perhaps they should’ve made
him talk more like Indy, too.
There’s one giant aberration awaiting
the gamer though, and it’s the thing that
every adventurer fears the most - the
obnoxious MAZE! Yes, that’s right, there’s
a giant maze in the game that nearly
equals the world’s most irritating maze
puzzle, the one found in Westwood's first
Kyrandia game. It’s not the maze that’s
obnoxious - it’s the fact that, when enter-
ing each room, you have to pull various
ropes to light up the next room. It’s not
that difficult, but it’s somewhere beyond
boring. It’s a real show-stopper, and with-
out a map, the player may give up and put
the game away (after completing it, Ripley
even says, “Mazes. I hate mazes”).
* * . --
A*
$ m i m
•* " | jgf 1 ‘
©®o
The basket of severed heads hanging here should
be enough to deter Ripley from stealing - try
buying things with the local currency
Small bits of video like this are used to show
action or, as in this case, show the characters
emotions and subtleties
The Posh Express, Ripley’s home away from
home. Send oddities back to NYC and/or book
travel to far-off regions. Often the clerks will
have objects and/or information Ripley needs
Robert Ripley in the desert, in all of his dorky glory
Which would be a tragedy, since the
player has had to endure so many chal-
lenging and clever puzzles up to that
point. This is the finest puzzle game of
the year, with some incredibly complex
mechanical puzzles that actually work
within the fiction of the game. Beyond
the maze lies a clever bridge the player
has to figure out how to cross, and
there are others of note (one involving
a series of monks is particularly
rewarding). However, the drop dead
toughest puzzle is the one in the
Baron’s castle, where you have to get
the cursed Romanov emerald. It’s devil-
ishly difficult, and rivals the undisputed
champion of adventure game puzzles,
Steve Meretzky’s brilliant babel fish
puzzle from The Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy. Unfortunately, this one
offers less assistance than that blast
from the past.
Problems and all (when a game’s this
good, the bad parts stand out even
more), and considering this is Sanctuary
Woods’ first in-house adventure, Master
Lu is something of a revelation. If you
compare the polish of this design to
another first-time game such as Spectrum
HoloByte's Star Trek: The Next
Generation, there is no comparison.
Unlike that game, this one features a
unified look throughout, characters
which are both well-developed in the fic-
tion and well-represented on-screen
(despite Ripley’s dorkiness, the use of
video is superb - perhaps the most eco-
nomical and intelligent use of it in an
adventure game yet, as Steve Wartofsky
said in our E3 Report a few issues back),
and I was unable to find any gameplay-
logic bugs at all (the game is somewhat
picky about your system, and doesn’t
like Windows 95 much at all).
With The Riddle of Master Lu and
Buried in Time vying for the title of
“Best Adventure of 1 995,” it’s time to
start talking about Sanctuary Woods with
the same reverent tones usually
reserved for the big two, LucasArts and
Sierra. Master Lu is smart and funny
and fiendishly clever, and signals a return
to the classic adventure style everyone
has seemingly abandoned in order to
make bad movies. Let’s hope that it’s as
big an economic success as it is an artis-
tic one, so perhaps it will show compa-
nies that this is the sort of game that
gamers really want.
Steve Bauman
96
Strategy Plus
I.
December 20, 1984
Dear Hintbook Orderer,
Hey, look. I could give you all kinds of reasons about why the Hitchhiker's
In visi Clues booklet is delayed, but would that really matter to you? I mean,
like, I could go on and on about how it's our longest hint booklet ever, and
how it's more complicated to write than a thesis on matter transference
beams, and how much pressure I've been under to get it done on time, and
how I've been working around the dock, but that doesn't help you get the
blasted babel fish, does it?
So, I'm going to ignore all the advice from the police and from my doctors
and tell you exactly why the hintbook is delayed.
Things were on schedule into November; I was more than halfway through
the first draft. I had a craving for pizza, 90 I went to the pizza joint ar-
ound the corner. I would've left right away if I'd noticed that the guy be-
hind the counter was actually an advance scout for invading aliens from
Pluto. Anyway, by the time I escaped from the slave camp on Titan it was
almost Thanksgiving,* as I had a devil of a time deciphering the controls on
that Plutoid interplanetary scooter, and I was a little injured during the
crash in Iceland.
I've now got the first draft finished, despite the death threats from the car-
tel of international conglomerates that control the invisible ink market. I'll
finish polishing it as soon as I pay the Arcturian doctors enough invisible ink
(a powerful narcotic on Arcturus) to perform the limb grafts.
Expect your hintbook in February. I'll stake my life on it.
Sincerely,
World-reknowned Hintbook Author
You may cancel your Hitchhiker's InvisiClues order by returning this section:
QJ Bug off, cretins! I'd sooner try and take invisible ink from
an Arcturian than let you incompetent twits have my money!
Cancel my hint booklet order immediately.
NAME:
ADDRESS:
ThvisiClues Hint Booklet for
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Final Draft
11/12/84
[Sample question]
How can I tell the difference between a Vogon and a pile of Fronurbi Fire
Fungus?
* You need a Fire Fungus meter.
* You don't have a Fire Fungus meter.
* So you can't. Remind me never to send you to the store for
Fronurbdi Fire Fungus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
On The Earth
In The Dark
Aboard the Vogon Ship
Aboard the Heart of Gold
On Traal
On Damogran
At The Party
The Earth, Revisited
The War Chamber and Maze
Inside the Whale
General Questions
Maps
How All the Points are Scored
For Your Amusement
Guide Entries
Footnotes
Page 3
ON THE EARTH
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
How do I turn on the light after I wake up?
* Have you tried TURN ON THE LIGHT?
I can't reach anything from the bed! What to I do?
* Maybe you should GET OUT OF THE BED.
Why am I having trouble picking things up?
* The room is spinning because you have a hangover.
* There is ONE thing you can pick up.
* The gown.
How can I get out of the bedroom?
* You keep bouncing off the doorframe because the the room is
spinning from your hangover.
* You '11 have to get rid of it.
* See the previous question.
* There's an aspirin in the pocket of the gown.
* TAKE GOWN. PUT IT ON. OPEN THE POCKET. TAKE THE ANALGESIC.
What will I need bo bring with me when I leave the bedroom?
* As in most interactive fiction, it's always best to bring
as much as the game will allow you to bring.
Is the pile of mail important?
* Have you read the mail?
* Now you know what's going on outside the house.
* Also, see the advice in the previous question.
What's that bulldozer doing in front of my house?
* The backstroke?
Page 4
* Sorry about that. Have you read the pile of mail on your Front
Porch?
* The bulldozer is there to knock down your house to make way
for a new highway bypass.
Is it important to stop my house from being destroyed?
* If I owned a house, even a little ugly one like Arthur's, I'd
want to keep it from getting destroyed.
* If you stay in the house until the bulldozer demolishes it, you die.
* If you are standing near the house when the bulldozer demolishes
it, a brick hits you, and you die.
* If you try to leave the vicinity of the house, it gets demolished,
a brick hits you, and you die.
* In other words, yes.
How can I prevent my house from getting demolished?
* There's a tried and true method for stopping bulldozers and
other unwanted construction apparatus.
* Have you ever tried calling the police from the phone in your
bedroom?
* In front of your house, have you ever tried to PROTEST or
asked PROSSER, STOP THE BULLDOZER?
* Have you ever tried to STAND IN FRONT OF THE BULLDOZER?
* In case you haven't figured it out from these subtle dues, you
want to LIE DOWN IN FRONT OF THE BULLDOZER.
* Actually, because the authors are such swell and generous guys, BLOCK
THE BULLDOZER, or STOP THE BULLDOZER, or even just LIE DOWN
all work.
Page 5
* You'll note that you have to wait a few turns after you lie
down before the bulldozer finally grinds to a halt.
What should I do when Ford Prefect shows up?
* If you take the towel that Ford is trying to give you, he'll
walk away.
* Standing up to follow him at this point is fatal.
* Without Ford you'll never survive the upcoming destruction
of the Earth.
* Ford is oblivious to your problem with the demolition crew.
If you wait a few turns, he will notice the bulldozer, and
help you out.
* If you want to save a few turns, rather than just waiting you can
type FORD, WHAT ABOUT MY HOME? as soon as he arrives.
Should I go with Ford to the Pub?
* You'd better not stand up until Prosser is lying down in your
place.
* This will happen if you simply wait a few turns after Ford shows
up.
* At this point, you should listen to Ford and accompany him to
the Pub. If you wait around where you are, you'll be sorry.
Should I go with Ford to the Cinema?
* According to the article on the back page of Prosser's copy of
the Cottington Gazette, the Famous Scientist is a real movie
buff.
* The Cinema's double feature of "Citizen Kane" and "Earth vs. The
Flying Saucers" sounds promising.
Page 6
* Remember the warning in the introduction. Don't let the presence
or absence of questions influence your play, and don't assume that
long answers are associated with important questions.
What should I do in the Pub?
* You came here because of Ford, right?
* Why not do as he says?
* Drink some beer.
* Also, have you noticed the shelf of items behind the bar?
How much beer should I drink?
* Ford will keep urging you to drink beer until you've had enough.
* If you've had less than three beers, the shock of the matter
transference beam will kill you.
* If you have more than three beers, you'll get drunk and end up
partying through the end of the world.
* In other words, you want to drink the beer three times.
Is the jukebox important?
* Try LISTEN TO THE JUKEBOX or LISTEN TO THE MUSIC.
* The jukebox is not important from a puzzle-solving point of view.
It's just for atmosphere.
* This space intentionally left blank.
* This space even more intentionally left blank.
How can I buy beer?
* You can't.
* But so what? Ford buys some for you.
How can I buy a packet of peanuts?
* You can't.
Page 7
* At least, not when you're Arthur.
How can I buy a cheese sandwich?
* How about BUY A CHEESE SANDWICH.
* Or, BARTENDER, GIVE ME A CHEESE SANDWICH.
* Perhaps ASK BARTENDER FOR A SANDWICH is more up your alley.
How can I buy some whiskey?
* You can't.
* There's no whiskey in the entire game, let alone in the Pub!
* It's not a very good pub, is it?
What should I do about the dog?
* Have you examined the dog?
* If you haven't figured it out, you'll find out more later.
What should I do when my house is destroyed?
* There's not much you can do about it.
* You might return to Front of House to survey the rubble, or
to have it out with Prosser.
What should I do when the Vogon fleet arrives?
* DON'T PANIC.
* Read everything carefully.
* Remember Ford's reason for drinking all that beer?
* It has something to do with that small black device that
Ford drops after the fleet arrives.
* Have you tried picking it up?
* Have you tried examining it?
* You want to hitch a ride aboard one of the Vogon ships.
* PUSH THE GREEN BUTTON.
Page 8
The Earth keeps getting destroyed by the Vogon fleet, and me along with it!
* See the previous question.
I died from shock during matter transference. What did I do wrong?
* See the question about how much beer to drink.
Page 9
IN THE DARK
Help! rm in the Dark and can't do anything!
* If this "Dark" is at the very beginning of the game, before you've
done anything, you're in the wrong place. Look at the first question
in the first chapter of this booklet.
* You've been through a matter transference beam, and you still
haven't recovered from the shock of it.
* Recovery takes time...
* ...but in this case, you'll have to do more than just wait.
Okay, just exactly how do I get out of this Dark?
* Have patience.
* Read carefully.
* If you've waited a number of times, you'll begin to get some clues.
* The first due comes the 18th time you've waited; three additional
clues come every fifteen WAITS thereafter.
* Try starting again and reading each response to WAITing in the Dark
very carefully.
* There's an important difference between the third and fourth
responses.
* You are no longer told that you can't smell anything.
* Try SMELL THE DARKNESS or SMELL NOTHING or even just SMELL.
What's the significance of this shadow I see moving around?
* That's your way out of Dark.
* You should EXAMINE THE SHADOW, or feel it, or smell it.
Oh no! I'm in that blasted Dark AGAIN!
Page 10
* Unless you've been to the Vogon Hold, you're looking at the wrong
question.
* Okay, you've been through Dark at least once before, so you
should know what's going on.
* This time, though, it isn't smell that goes away on the fourth
description.
* It's hearing.
* Try HEAR NOTHING or LISTEN TO DARKNESS.
* "There is an exit to port." Try going that way.
* Well, don't just give up. Be persistent. Try going PORT a few
more times.
* Perhaps AFT would be more productive, come to think of it.
Please explain to me exactly how Dark works.
* You enter Dark when the Earth is destroyed, and at various other
points throughout the game.
* Beginning with the fourth time that you read "There's nothing you
can taste..." etc. (or some paraphrase of that paragraph), one of
your five senses will, disappear.
* At this point, you should type the sense that no longer appears,
such as SMELL or SEE.
* The first time you enter Dark, smell will go away. See the first
question in this chapter.
* The second time you enter Dark, hearing will go away. See the third
question in this chapter.
* On subsequent visits to Dark, the sense that disappears will be
fairly random. See the following question for more details.
Page 11
Is there any way to control where I go when I leave Dark?
* Not usually.
* Don't continue until you have a cup of tea.
* Don't continue until you actually have real tea, not merely
Advanced Tea Substitute.
* Have you ever examined the cup of tea?
* This response indicates that the tea is a better source of Brownian
Motion for the Improbability Drive set-up than the Advanced
Tea Substitute (ATS). Try it.
* Notice anything different about Dark when you use tea instead
of ATS?
* For one thing, a sense is missing right away, rather than
after three WAITS.
* More importantly, when you have used tea as a Brownian source,
a different sense will be missing each time you WAIT. Thus, with
tea, you can "control Dark."
* There are a total of eight exits from Dark. Taste never goes
away, so there are two Dark exits for each missing sense.
* There is a way to differentiate between each pair.
* For example, when feel is missing, and you type FEEL DARK, you will
be told that it feels "warm and wet and squishy," in which case your
current Dark exit is Inside the Sperm Whale. When the response is
"cold and wet and squishy," then tasting the liquid will take you
to the Living Room of the party. When you are controlling dark, and
have determined your current exit as in the previous example.
Page 12
you don't want to go there, simply WAIT and you will be given a new
missing sense and a corresponding new exit. NOTE: You will
never get the whale exit unless you are using real tea for
your Brownian Source.
When smell disappears: If the object is "being waved under your nose"
then the exit will be the Vogon Hold. If the object is "waving under
your nose" the exit is the Lair of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast
TraaL
When hearing is missing: If the sound of the star drive is
"coming from far above you" then your exit would be Entry Bay
Number Two of the Heart of Gold. If it is "coming from far
below you" then your exit would be the War Chamber of the
battle fleet.
If seeing is the sense that goes away: When the light "stabs at the
front of your eyes" then your exit is the Country Lane. When
the light "stabs at the back of your eyes" then your exit
is the Presidential Speedboat.
Page 13
ABOARD THE VOGON SHIP
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Where the heck am I?
* As your status line says, you are in the Vogon Hold.
* ASK FORD ABOUT THE EARTH.
* The Earth has been destroyed by the Vogon fleet. You and Ford
have hitched a ride aboard one of the ships of the Vogon Fleet
by using the electronic Sub-Etha signaling device, also known
as a Thumb.
How do I prevent myself from getting groggy and dying?
* This is caused by your protein loss during the matter
transference beams.
* Do you have anything with a lot of protein in it?
* It's something that Ford just gave you.
* It's one of the primary ingredients of peanut butter and
peanut brittle.
* It's frequently found on shelves behind bars in Pubs.
* EAT THE PEANUTS. (But I bet you already knew it anyway and were
just exposing this last hint hoping for something funny.)
What is that thing Ford hands me before he lies down for his nap?
* That's the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
* It's the single most useful thing an inter-galactic hitchhiker
(or an Infocom game player) can have.
* See the Hitchhiker's Guide question in the General Questions
chapter for more information.
How can I wake Ford?
Page 14
* Have you tried WAKE FORD?
* You can't wake Ford.
* You'll have to get the babel fish on your own.
How can I get the atomic vector plotter out of the glass case?
* There's a switch and a keyboard attached to the case.
* If you haven't made a SAVE recently, now might be a good time.
* Try typing something on the keyboard. If you wanted to type
"hello" on the keyboard, the proper way would be to type
TYPE "HELLO."
* Well, perhaps that wasn't such a great idea. Maybe you should
try flipping the switch.
* If the recording that played was nothing but gibberish, you'll
have to find some way to translate it.
* See the question about the babel fish.
* Once you have the babel fish, try flipping the switch again.
* Now you know what you need to type. It's just a matter of waiting
around to hear the captain's poetry reading. See the question about
what's going on in the Captain's Quarters.
What is the tall dispensing machine?
* Examine it.
Why does the dispensing machine go "click"?
* It's out of fish.
What is a babel fish?
* Consult the Guide.
How can I get a babel fish?
* This puzzle has more dues than a Hitchhiker's Guide Mark IV has
Page 15
options.
* Have you tried pressing the dispenser button?
* You need to block the small hole.
* I hope you're really not stuck here, because it only gets harder.
* It has something to do with the hook above the hole.
* You need to hang something on the hook.
* Examine the gown.
* Notice the loop? Hang the gown on the hook, then press the button
again.
* Well, you've made a little progress. Don't give up now.
* You '11 have to block the drain.
* There's only one thing large enough to completely cover the drain.
* Cover the drain with the towel, then push the button again.
* Oh, welL Forging ahead, you'll, have to block the tiny robot panel.
* Standing or lying in front of the panel won't work.
* You'll have to put some object in front of the panel.
* If it isn't bulky enough, the cleaning robot dashes around it.
* Examine all the objects around.
* The satchel is bulky. Put it in front of the panel, then push the
button again.
* At this point, brave men have been known to break down and
cry.
* Read, very carefully, the paragraph when Ford goes to sleep.
* Note that when you placed the satchel in front of the panel the
response was "The satchel is now LYING ON ITS SIDE in front of
the paneL"
Page 16
* The point of the two previous hints is: You can put an object on
top of the satchel.
* Put something on the satchel, then push the dispenser button again.
* Notice that the upper-half-of-the-roo m cleaning robot just manages
to catch the second item.
* Perhaps if there were several items on the satchel, they would all
fly in the air and confuse the flying robot.
* Unfortunately, there's only room for one object on the satchel.
* Do you have an object, or have you seen an object, that when flung
into the air might act as many items?
* Remember that when the upper-half-of-the-roo m cleaning robot grabbed
the babel fish, before you put an object on the satchel, the text
said that the fish was "the only flying junk" that the robot found.
* Put the pile of junk mail on the satchel, then press the dispenser
button again.
* Voila!
* This space intentionally left blank.
* Incidentally, did you know that this is the longest question
ever to appear in an InvisiClues hint booklet?
* You see, the Kwimbucki of Zug Seven are avid interactive fiction
fans, but they have one rather eccentric peculiarity.
* They will not buy any work of interactive fiction unless its
hint booklet has at least one question with over 35 hints.
* This is the 35th hint.
* Our marketing department will be happy to know that Zug Seven
sales have just skyrocketed.
Page 17
What's that gibberish I keep hearing over the ship's intercom?
* It's an announcement in Vogonese, a language not widely taught
in the universities around Cottington.
* If you want to understand the announcement, you'll have to discover
some way to translate it.
* See the questions about the babel fish.
* The announcement will begin 18 turns after you enter the Vogon Hold,
or 3 turns after you obtain the babel fish.
Is there any way to stop the guards from dragging me to the Captain's
Quarters?
* No.
* If you don't know why the guards are dragging you off, see the
question about the gibberish from the intercom.
* The guards will arrive 36 turns after you arrive in the Vogon Hold,
or 5 turns after you obtain a babel fish.
What's going on here in the Captain's Quarters?
* Don't go on unless you've translated the garbled announcement.
* Don't go on until you've figured out what's going on with the
glass case and switch and keyboard.
* You are at a Vogon Poetry Appreciation Session. The Vogon Captain is
about to read you his favourite poem. The Guide's entry on Vogon
Poetry makes clear that this is extremely nasty.
* Because you have already flipped the switch on the glass case and
listened to the recording, you know that you'll have to listen to
the second verse of the poem in carder to get the atomic vector
plotter.
Page 18
* This poetry is painfully awful. Have you tried STOP THE POETRY
or COVER MY EARS or DON'T LISTEN TO THE VOGON POETRY?
* "Why not relax and enjoy it?"
* When he finishes the first verse, the Captain says "You didn't
look like you enjoyed my poetry at alll" and then proceeds to
have you thrown into space.
* You want to ENJOY THE POETRY, any time between when the Captain
begins the poetry reading and when he completes the end of the
first verse. If you do so, the Captain will continue on and read
the second verse.
* Now that you've heard the glass case's recording AND the second
verse of the poem, you know what to type on the keyboard in order
to acquire the atomic vector plotter. (You'll have to wait until
the guards drag you back into the Vogon Hold, of course.)
* For example, if the recording asked you to type the second word
from the second verse, and the second word of the second verse
was "lyshus," you should type TYPE "LYSHUS" when you get back
to the Vogon Hold. NOTE: Each time you pLay the game, the
lines of the verse come in different orders. Similarly, the
glass case's recording asks for a different number word each
time you play.
How can I prevent the guards from throwing us in the airlock?
* There's no way to prevent this.
* No matter what you do, you'll eventually end up getting spaced.
* However, you should make sure that you've accomplished everything
that needs to be accomplished aboard the Vogon ship before this
Page 19
occurs.
* Your main goal aboard the Vogon ship is obtaining the atomic
vector plotter.
Is there any way to survive getting blown out of the Airlock?
* Yes. In fact, there's no way to NOT survive it.
* If you just wait, you'll be blown into space and find yourself
in the Dark again.
* Try examining the Thumb while in the Airlock.
* Apparently, there's another spaceship nearby. Try hitchhiking
by pressing the green button.
* This sends you through a matter transference beam, and you find
yourself in the Dark again.
* Both methods of "surviving" the Airlock are equivalent.
Page 20
ABOARD THE HEART OF GOLD
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
I've just arrived in Entry Bay Number Two. Where am I? What's going on?
* Listen to Ford.
* Read the sales brochure that's lying on the ground.
* You've just been picked up by a fantastic new spaceship powered
by something called an infinite Improbability Drive. You might
want to find out more about it.
Who are those people on the Bridge?
* If you stick around until everyone enters the sauna, and pay
attention to what everyone is saying, you'll find out.
* The woman is Tricia MacMillan, also known as Trillian. She is an
Earthwoman whom you met at a party in Islington not too long
ago, at which time you totally failed to impress her. She
eventually left the party with some guy named Phil...who is,
you realize, the two-headed man standing next to her.
* The man is Zaphod Beeblebrox, current President of the Galaxy,
who has stolen this revolutionary new Infinite Improbability
Drive-powered spaceship in order to locate the legendary lost
planet of Magrathea. Zaphod and Ford know each other.
* That you should be picked up in the vast emptiness of space by a
ship inhabited by an acquaintance from your now-destroyed native
planet as well as your travelling companion's semi-cousin, can only
be considered highly improbable. But then, with Infinite
Improbability Drives at work, the infinitely improbable is not only
possible but quite likely.
Page 21
r
How can I enter the sauna?
* From the Bridge, head to port.
* There is no way to actually STAY in the sauna.
* Therefore, once Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian enter the sauna,
they will be effectively inaccessible to you for the remainder
of the game.
Is Eddie (the shipboard computer) important?
* Without Eddie, who would make all those fun announcements?
* Eddie is the only one who can turn on the main drive.
* But he won't obey your order to do that, only Zaphod 's.
* Eddie's help is indirectly necessary to obtain a cup of tea.
* But in terms of solving puzzles, you can basically ignore Eddie.
Are the controls on the Bridge important?
* Have you examined them?
* The large receptacle is important.
* Don't go on until, you've figured out how to set up and use
the spare Improbability Drive.
* I mean it! Don't go any further unless you've figured out the
spare Improbability Drive.
* The large plug from the spare Drive can be plugged into
the large receptacle.
* But that isn't necessarily the right thing to do.
* In fact, when you plug in the spare Drive at the wrong time,
Eddie warns you that it's only for emergencies.
* Notice that when you use the drive while it's plugged into
the large receptacle, both the large receptacle and the
Page 23
Is the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster useful?
* Don't go on until you're actually holding the Gargle Blaster.
* Have you tried drinking it or examining it?
* Have you read the Guide entry on Pan- Galactic Gargle Blasters?
* Read carefully what Zaphod says when he notices that his
Gargle Blaster is missing.
* There is absolutely no way that you can be holding a Gargle
Blaster. The Nutrimat gives them only to Zaphod. You should
never have developed this question.
3s the cup of nectar useful?
* Have you ever heard the expression "nectar of the gods"?
* Have you ever tried boiling water at very high altitudes?
* Have you ever seen the 1993 remake of "Citizen Kane" starring
Sly Stallone as Charles Foster Kane?
* Have you ever felt like you developed hints that you shouldn't have?
Is the cup of tea important?
* Don't go on unless you actually have the cup of tea.
* Don't go on unless this cup of tea is REAL tea, not just
Advanced Tea Substitute.
* Have you ever examined the tea?
* Because it has even more Brownian Motion than the ATS, it will
make a better source of it for the spare Improbability Drive.
Try it.
* See the question about controlling where you go when you leave Dark.
(Tt's in the chapter called "In the Dark".)
What's the story with the circuit board in the Nutrimat?
Page 24
* You can remove it from the Nutrimat.
* Have you examined it?
* You can flip any of the eight dipswitches.
* You can even flip them while the circuit board is still in
the Nutrimat.
* Have you noticed the message in tiny letters on the board?
* There IS a way to read that message.
* Don't go on until you've been on Damogran.
* Don't go on until you've opened the toolbox.
* READ THE MESSAGE THROUGH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS.
Is the shipping carton important?
* Try examining or reading it.
* Have you opened the carton?
* The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation has apparently screwed up
(a common occurrence) and put the wrong item inside the
shipping carton.
* You'll be able to find the Nutri mat/Computer Interface elsewhere
in the game.
Is the strange gun important?
* Have you examined or read it?
* Don't go on unless you've been in the Lair.
* Have you tried shooting the gun at the Beast?
* Have you tried it several times?
* The gun is completely worthless, useless, and unimportant.
Is it possible to enter the drive chamber, that is, to go aft from
Page 25
Corridor, Aft End?
* Yes, but not without a fight.
* You'll have to argue with the game for a few turns.
* Usually, YES or NO responses are sufficient.
* The proper sequence, from the Corridor, Aft End is
aft.yes.yes.aft.no.
* However, there's more. See the next question...
Is there anything important in the Engine Room?
* Have you gotten into the Engine Room? If not, you should do
so before looking at the next hint.
* The game claims that there's nothing interesting there.
* However, after losing that argument with you, the game is probably
a bit peeved and is acting petulant.
* You'll have bo be persistent if you want to found out what's in
the Engine Room.
* Type LOOK three times. The game will then give in and describe
the room and the stuff there.
Is the spare Infinite Improbability Drive important?
* Read the Guide entry on Improbability Physics.
* You'll need the atomic vector plotter from the Vogon Hold. If
you never got it while you were aboard the Vogon ship, you'll
have to start the game over or go back to a saved position.
* You'll also need a good source of Brownian Motion.
* Consult the Hitchhiker's Guide about Brownian Motion.
* Have you seen any hot liquids?
* You'll need the cup of Advanced Tea Substitute, which you can
Page 26
get from the Nutrimat in the Galley.
* Now that you have all three items (spare Drive, plotter, and
cup of ATS) you should be able to figure out how to hook them
together.
* Examine all three items.
* You want to plug the small plug (from the drive) into the
small receptacle (in the atomic vector plotter). Also, you
want to put the plotter's long dangly bit into the cup of ATS.
* That still leaves the drive's large plug unattached. See the
question about the controls on the Bridge.
How can I get past the screening door in the Corridor, Aft End?
* This is a very difficult problem.
* Furthermore, you won't be able to tackle it until you're pretty
far into the game. Don't let it worry you until you get up around
200 points.
* Don't develop any further unless you've gotten the cup of tea
(real tea, not Advanced Tea Substitute).
* Don't go any further unless you've been in the Maze.
* Presumably you've tried OPEN THE DOOR.
* You have to show an example of your intelligence to the screening
door.
* Read the Guide entry on INTELLIGENCE.
* Can you think of anything contradictory that you could have or do?
* To show your intelligence, there are two specific items
that you must be holding at the same time.
* Have you noticed what happens when you take or drop the (real) tea?
Page 27
* To prove your intelligence to the door, you must be holding TEA and
NO TEA at the same time.
* Try going back to the beginning of the game and taking or dropping
NO TEA.
* Does the response to that ring any bells?
* Have you ever read or examined the black particle in the Maze?
* Do you know where you are when you are in the Maze? If not, see
the questions on the Maze.
* The Maze is your own brain, and the particle is your common
sense. Once you have removed the particle, you will no longer
be fettered by common sense...
* ...and can take NO TEA.
* Spelling it out step by step: First, acquire a cup of tea. Then
get rid of the common sense particle in the Maze. TAKE TEA THEN
TAKE NO TEA. Finally, show the tea and then the no tea to the
screening door. Or, you could save time on the last step and just
KNOCK ON THE DOOR while holding the two items.
* Did you die upon passing through the screening door? It's because
Marvin lives in the room beyond the door, and his awesome depression
pervades the place.
* You'll have to make yourself very happy before entering.
* Have you ever done anything that made you very happy and contented?
* Drink the cup of tea before you enter.
Is Marvin important?
* Yes, but not right away.
* Until a point, he won't do anything you tell him to do.
Page 28
* After that point, he'll grudgingly consent to ONE task.
* Have you ever followed Marvin when he appears around the Heart
of Gold?
* He always disappears through a certain door.
* Before Marvin will perform his one task, you must get past the
screening door near the aft end of the corridor.
* Don't go on until you've been in Marvin's Pantry.
* Congratulations. You've now impressed Marvin enough for him to
listen bo one request from you. Do you have any idea what order
to give him?
* What puzzles or obstacles still remain that he might help with?
* Try examining the mechanism in the Access Space.
* If you've ever seen the fruit, eating it would provide a big hint.
* You want to order Marvin to open the hatch (as in MARVIN, OPEN
THE HATCH). See the question about opening the hatch for more
information.
Is the Access Space important?
* It houses the mechanism that opens and closes the hatch. Have
you ever examined the mechanism?
* See the next question.
How can I open the hatch?
* Have you tried OPEN THE HATCH?
* If sirens and lights went off when you tried to open the hatch,
then the ship is still in space. You can't open the hatch while
the ship is in space, of course. Don't go on to the next hint
Page 29
until the ship has landed.
Do you remember an announcement when the Heart of Gold landed on
Magrathea?
Eddie (the shipboard computer) is jamming the hatch to prevent
anyone from leaving the ship until he's checked to make sure
the environment is safe.
If you wait the 17 years such a check will take, you'll probably
die of boredom.
You'll have to figure out how to override Eddie's wishes by
fixing the hatchway mechanism in the Access Space.
You don't have the necessary intelligence for the task.
Someone else does.
Marvin. See the question about Marvin to figure out how to get him
to open the hatch.
Once Marvin has agreed to open the hatch, he tells you to meet
him in the Access Space in twelve turns. Make sure you're on hand
for that meeting. (Hell hath no depression like a paranoid
android scorned.)
Marvin will ask you for the tool he needs to fix the mechanism.
You must give him the proper tool or you've blown your one chance
to get the hatchway open.
There are a total of ten tools scattered throughout the game. For a
complete list of them, see the quesion about the tools in the General
Questions chapter.
Even if you've collected all ten tools, you can only carry one at a
time into the Access Space...
Page 30
* ...and you don't have time to go out and get a different one before
Marvin gives up and leaves...
* ...and the chance of you bringing in the correct tool is very low.
* In fact, Marvin will NEVER ask for the tool you happen to be holding.
* There's a way to figure out in advance what tool Marvin will ask you
for.
* See the question about the fluff.
»
* Don't go on until you've seen the fruit.
* Eat the fruit.
* The glimpse of the future provided by the fruit tells you what tool
to bring into the Access Space.
* If you meet Marvin there and give him that tool when he asks for it,
he will fix the mechanism and open the hatch.
* You're now awesomely close to the end of the game.
* Go down through the hatch.
* Start waiting for the next exciting Hitchhiker's game.
Help! The Heart of Gold is being attacked by nuclear missiles!
* This is a good point for a SAVE.
* The computer is helpless because you've tied it up with the
Nutrimat interface.
* You'll have to save the ship yourself.
* The computer is tied up, so it can't turn on the main Drive
during this emergency.
* There's a spare Drive for use during emergencies.
* Turn on the spare Drive.
* That didn't work? Have you examined the spare Drive and the control
Page 31
console on the Bridge?
* If there are fused spots where the large plug and large receptacle
used bo be, you plugged the drive in at the wrong time.
* Note that when the spare Drive is NOT connected to the control
console and you turn it on, the effect is always directed at
you personally. When the spare Drive IS connected bo the control
console, activating it has an effect on the entire ship.
* Turning on the spare Drive while it's plugged into the control
console destroys the large plug and large receptacle, so you can only
do it once during the game. The one time you want to activate the
drive while plugged into the control console is during the missile
attack.
Page 32
ON TRAAL
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Is it possible to enter the room that lies southwest from the Lair?
* Yes.
* Figuring out how to subdue the Beast would help.
How can I stop the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal from killing me?
* The Beast will devour you about five turns after you pop up
in its Lair.
* Leaving the room (EAST) will buy you some time.
* Have you read the Guide entry on the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast
of Traal?
* You must find a way to prevent yourself from seeing the Beast. The
Beast will then decide that since you can't see it, it can't see you!
* Closing your eyes isn't obvious enough for the Beast to notice.
* You have to cover your head with something.
* It's something important, which no interstellar hitchhiker should
ever be without.
* The towel. COVER MY HEAD WITH THE TOWEL or PUT THE TOWEL
OVER MY EYES
or WRAP THE TOWEL AROUND MY HEAD or, well, you get the idea.
* Unfortunately, you can't move around very well with a towel over
your eyes. Furthermore, as you may have already noticed, this method
is also only temporarily effective.
Why does the beast ask me to say my name?
* A good question. Have you tried figuring out the answer yourself?
* Have you been in the Beast's Outer Lair?
Page 33
* Have you ever tried saying your name as the Beast demands?
* There are at least a dozen ways to say your name: SAY MY NAME or
SAY
"ARTHUR DENT" or SAY "MY NAME IS ARTHUR DENT" or SAY "I AM
ARTHUR
DENT" or TELL THE BEAST MY NAME or TELL MY NAME TO THE
BEAST. YOU
could also say BEAST, MY NAME IS ARTHUR DENT or BEAST, I'M
ARTHUR
DENT. There are some others but you've probably got the general idea
by now.
* You have to give your correct name to the Beast, or (in a rare moment
of Bugblatter Beast perceptivity) it will be able to tell that you're
lying, m addition, you can't tell the Beast your name if the Beast
20thinks it can't see you.
* The Beast's response when you told it your name should provide an
additional hint toward why the Beast wants to know your name, and
how to solve this entire Traal puzzle.
* Still stuck? Go on to the next question.
What is the significance of the sandstone memorial?
* Have you figured out why the Beast wants to know your name?
* The Beast wants to carve your name in this, his memorial of
remembrance, after he has devoured you.
* Have you figured out how to stop the Beast from attacking you,
at least on a temporary basis?
* Don't go on until you have figured out how to convince the Beast
Page 34
that it can't see you.
* There's a way to confuse the Beast...
* ...into thinking that it has already eaten you.
* You want to carve your name in the memorial, as in CARVE MY NAME
ON THE SANDSTONE MEMORIAL.
* Of course, you'H need something to carve with.
* It's not any of the tools.
* It's something found on TraaL
* Use one of the sharp stones that are lying on the ground.
* You won't be able to dg, it until you've told the Beast your name
and covered your head with the towel.
* It is now safe to remove the towel from your head, and to go
southwest from the Lair.
Are the tall walls around the courtyard important?
* If you could dlimb them, you might be able to escape the Beast.
* If you could collapse them onto the Beast, that just might
do it in.
* If you could transmute them into steaming mounds of Qurmeesian
Mega- Rhino flank steaks, the Beast might start in on those and
ignore your few measly pounds of stringy flesh.
* Unfortunately, you can't do any of the above.
Are the bleached bones important?
* Don't go on until you've found the black paint.
* Have you tried painting the bones with the paint?
* Where does the Beast go when he sees the black bones?
* Black paint? Remember the warning in the introduction! Developing
Page 35
the hints to random questions will spoil the game for you. Stick
to just those points where you're stuck.
Are the sharp stones important?
* Yes.
* Have you examined them?
* See the question about the sandstone memorial.
What is the point of this whole Traal scene?
* First you'll have to figure out how to "neutralize" the Beast.
* Don't go on until the Beast is sleeping.
* Have you been in the Inner Lair?
* Go southwest from the Lair.
* The entire point of this scene is to get that Nutri mat/Computer
Interface.
* You have a limited number of moves to get the interface, after the
Beast falls asleep and before the Fronurbdian Beasthunters arrive.
Page 36
ON DAMOGRAN
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Who am I?
* Ask the gam el (Type WHO AM I?)
Where am I?
* You're on Damogran. If you'd like to know more about it,
consult the Hitchhiker's Guide.
How can I open the toolbox?
* Have you tried OPEN THE TOOLBOX?
* Since it's locked, you'll need to find a key.
* Try typing WHERE IS THE KEY while on the speedboat.
* There aren't a lot of hiding places around the boat.
* SEARCH THE PILOT SEAT or LOOK UNDER THE CUSHION.
How can I stop myself from cracking up against the rocks?
* Have you tried to EXAMINE THE CONTROLS?
* Try PUSH THE AUTOPILOT BUTTON.
* The autopilot doesn't seem concerned about your situation, since
it just takes a look around and then shuts itself off.
* You need to give the autopilot 9ome impetus to go to work.
* Instead of steering toward the channel, try steering toward
the cliff or the rocky spire.
* After three turns of heading toward an obstacle, the autopilot
will kick on and navigate you safely to your destination.
What should I do when the boat docks?
* Leave the boat. Type NORTH or LEAVE THE BOAT.
What should I do when I reach the Dais?
Page 37
* You're here for the dedication ceremonies of the Heart of Gold. You
obviously have the crowd eating out of your hands.
* You might try smiling, or waving, or making a speech.
* Mainly, though, you just need to wait until Trillian shows up.
WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THE GUARDS?
* Don't go on unless you're on the Dais and Trillian is there.
* Trillian isn't really attacking you. It's just part of your
plan to steal the Heart of Gold.
* The guards don't know that you're planning to steal, the Heart
of Gold, so they're on your side.
* You're President of the Galaxy! The guards will probably listen to
your orders.
* You should say GUARDS, DON'T SHOOT or GUARDS, DROP THE
PHOTON RIFLES.
* If you're still having troubles with the guards, see the next
question.
Is there any way to enter the Heart of Gold from the Dais?
* Until Trillian shows up, the game won't even let you try.
* After Trillian shows up, attempting to enter the Heart of Gold
is deadly.
* Don't go on unless you've disarmed the guards (see the
previous question).
* This isn't helpful all by itself, since the guards pick up their
rifles and still shoot you if you break for the ship.
* You have to figure out a way to get rid of the guards or the
rifles permanently.
Page 38
The guards win NOT leave the scene, no matter what you do.
Trying to shoot the guards doesn't work either.
There is, however, a way to dispose of the rifles.
Take the blaster from Trillian and shoot the rifles. Alter natively
you can just ASK TRILLIAN TO SHOOT THE PILE OF RIFLES.
Once you've destroyed the rifles it's safe to enter the ship.
the point of the whole Damogran scene?
Don't go on until you ended the scene by successfully entering
the Heart of Gold. (Tf you were killed by the guards while
attempting to enter, you did NOT enter "successfully.")
Have you opened the toolbox?
If you've opened the toolbox, then you've certainly found both the
seat cushion fluff and the laser-assisted monkey wrench. Getting
these two items are the ultimate goal of the Damogran scene.
Page 39
AT THE PARTY
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Who am I?
* Ask the game. (Type WHO AM I?)
Where am I?
* Remember what happened when you first reached the Bridge of the
Heart of Gold?
* This is the Party where Arthur Dent tried to pick up Tricia
MacMillan (but, you'll recall, failed completely).
* Thanks to the wild vagaries of Improbability Physics, you have not
only travelled back in time, you have changed your identity as well.
What should I do about Phil?
* If you try to talk to Phil, he doesn't notice, and invariably
leaves the room.
* Have you examined him?
* The draped cage on his shoulder does NOT contain a bird.
* The cage is hiding Phil's second head.
* Phil is actually Zaphod Beeblebrox in disguise. He has undoubtedly
dropped by this Islington party as part of some interstellar
party-crashing hop.
* If you recall from the events on the Bridge of the Heart of Gold,
you (Trillian) eventually left ... er, will leave ... the party with
Zaphod/Phil.
* But that won't happen until you do something else. See the question
about the point of the party scene.
What should I do about Arthur?
Page 40
* Arthur keeps trying to start a conversation with you, but he's
too shy and embarrassed. If you try to talk to him, he finds your
tone rather cool, and moves away.
* Have you examined him?
* Notice the fluff?
* If you take the fluff from his jacket, it will "break the ice"
and Arthur will begin jabbering.
* You may have already noticed that you can't take the fluff until
you drop one of the other things you're carrying (handbag, wine,
hors d'oeuvres). You can't hold more than three things while
you're
at the party.
What should I do about the hostess?
* You're usually able to avoid her.
* If you try to talk to her, you'll learn the meaning of the
phrase "bored to death."
*
* If you drop your glass of wine, your handbag, or your plate of
hors d'oeuvres, the hostess will come over and pester you about
it. She won't leave you alone until you take the item that you
dropped.
How can I leave the apartment?
* Try going south from the Living Room.
* Dying will get you back to Dark...
* There is a way to leave the apartment, but you'll have to solve
a puzzle first. See the next question.
What is the point of the party scene?
Page 41
* There's an item at the party that you have to get back to the Heart
of Gold.
* That item is the unsightly piece of jacket fluff.
* Read all the previous questions in this chapter of the hint booklet.
* You want to get "picked up" by Phil. However, he won't take any
notice of you until you take the fluff and get Arthur talking
to you.
* In order to take the fluff, though, you'll have to drop something.
This will cause the hostess to start hovering around you. Phil is
much too smart to approach you when you're with the hostess.
* So, to get Phil to come over, you'll have to take the item that the
hostess keeps offering you. To do so, you'll have to drop something,
and the piece of fluff is the only thing you have that you can drop
without setting off the hostess again.
* There IS a way to stop holding the fluff WITHOUT dropping it.
* Look at what you're carrying again.
* You can put the fluff in your handbag.
* Naturally, the fluff is "still" in the handbag when you eventually
get back to the Heart of Gold. You need only go to the Bridge, or
wherever you left the handbag, open it, and take the jacket fluff.
* If you're still confused, one sequence of moves that will "solve"
the party scene is: EXAMINE ARTHUR.DROP THE WINE. TAKE THE
JACKET
FLUFF. OPEN THE HANDBAG. PUT THE FLUFF IN THE HANDBAG. TAKE
THE WINE.
Then just WAIT until Phil comes up and escorts you away. You will
Page 42
end up in Dark.
Page 43
THE EARTH, REVISITED
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Who am I?
* Ask the game. (Type WHO AM I?)
Where should I go?
* You are reliving the last few minutes before the destruction
of the Earth...
* ...this time as Ford Prefect rather than Arthur Dent.
* The Improbability Drive has sent you back in time and has also
changed your identity.
* You want to do what Ford did when you were Arthur.
* Go north to Front of House.
What should I do about that feeling of uneasiness?
* Have you tried waiting a few turns?
* Obviously, you're doing the wrong thing.
* You shouldn't be in the Pub at this point.
* See the previous question.
What should I do about Arthur?
* According to the introductory text for this scene, why did you
come here?
* What did Ford do at this point when you were Arthur?
* Try to give the towel to Arthur.
* The towel is inside your satchel.
What should I do about Prosser?
* Don't go on until you've done the step called for by the previous
question.
* You want Arthur to come with you to the Pub.
* If you recall from when you were Arthur, it would mean the
Page 44
destruction of Arthur's house if he stood up at this point.
* He won't stand up until you've safeguarded his house.
* You have to talk to Prosser.
* But he can't hear you from here.
* So you have to APPROACH PROSSER or WALK AROUND THE
BULLDOZER.
Now you can talk to him.
* You want him to lie down in front of the bulldozer.
* Try PROSSER, LIE DOWN IN FRONT OF THE BULLDOZER.
* Arthur is now willing to follow you to the Pub.
What should I do in the Pub?
* Unless Arthur is with you, you are here prematurely.
* Once again, think back to what Ford did when you were Arthur.
* The first thing to do is BUY SOME BEER.
* Then DRINK THE BEER. Arthur will follow your example. You need
to do this twice.
* You can BUY SOME PEANUTS, but it isn't necessary to do so.
* When Arthur's house is destroyed, he will rush out of the Pub.
It would be a good idea to stay with him.
What should I do about the dog?
* There's not much you can do about the dog at this point.
* You may find out more about the dog later.
What's the point of this second Earth scene?
* You learn a lot about Ford's motivations, thus making for a more
Page 45
cohesive, internally consistent story line.
* Oh, right. You're more interested in puzzle solutions. The entire
point of this scene is acquiring one particular item for use on the
Heart of Gold.
* It's in the satchel.
* It's the satchel fluff.
* There's a way to transfer it to something, other than the satchel, so
that it will be accessible when you get back to the Heart of Gold.
* That something is Arthur Dent.
* Give the fluff to Arthur.
* This is a rather weird action, and Arthur won't accept the fluff
until he's had enough beer.
* After Arthur runs back to his house/rubble, follow him and give
him the fluff. He'll accept it at this point and put it in his
pocket. Then just wait for events to run their course, and you'll
soon find yourself back in Dark. When you get back to the Heart of
Gold, the satchel fluff should be in the pocket of your gown.
Page 46
THE WAR CHAMBER AND THE MAZE
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
What's going on in the War Chamber?
* Have you tried listening to the conversation?
* Have you examined the approaching star system?
* Do you remember the long piece of text that appeared when
your careless words set off an interstellar war?
* Those two warring races have now set off on a quest for
vengeance against the world (Earth) that spawned the person
(you) whose remark set off their war.
How can I get the awl out of the War Chamber?
* Just TAKE AWL!
* Then just solve the puzzle involving the giant dog.
How can I prevent being swallowed by that giant dog?
* The dog really isn't a giant dog.
* It's a normal-sized dog. The spaceship you're aboard is
microscopic.
* Have you seen a dog anywhere else?
* This is the very same dog you ran into in the Country Lane
back at the beginning of the game.
* The dog swallows the space fleet for one particular reason.
* If you examined the dog back at the beginning of the game,
you would have noticed that it was very hungry.
* You need to feed the dog back at the beginning of the game.
* If you want to avoid starting over from the beginning, there's
another way to feed the dog.
Page 47
* You must become Ford Prefect first.
* During the scene where you're Ford, buy a sandwich then give
the sandwich to Arthur. When Arthur dashes out of the Pub, he'll
feed the sandwich to the dog.
* Once the dog has been fed, you can survive the War Chamber scene,
and go on to the Maze.
Where is this Maze?
* Synapses? Gray Matter?
* Remember you were just teleported over from a microscopic
space fleet...
* ...so you must be microscopic-sized yourself.
* You're inside a brain.
* Ah, but whose brain?
* Remember, the Vl'Hurgs and G'Gugvunts were teleporting you back to
the Heart of Gold.
* You are, improbably enough, inside your own brain!
Can the Maze be mapped?
* The usual way of mapping a maze in this sort of game is to drop
one object in each room of the maze. That way, when you return
to the room, the game will mention that "there is a (whatever)
here," and the rooms will no longer look exactly alike.
* However, that method doesn't work in this Maze, since anything you
drop just sails away and vanishes.
* The Maze is totally unmappable.
* In fact, the directions you can go in the Maze on any given turn are
totally random, 90 it makes absolutely no difference what direction
Page 48
you try to move in.
* The third time you successfully move to a new Maze room (as opposed
to being blocked by a synaptic discharge) you'll run across the
black particle.
* If you ignore the particle, you'll run across it again 14 successful
movements later, and then again after another 19.
What's this black particle? What should I do about it?
* Have you read the markings on the particle?
* The particle is your own common sense!
* You have an opportunity here to remove your own common sense.
* Does that ring a bell?
* See the question about no tea in the General Questions chapter.
* Taking the particle also has the beneficial side effect
of getting you out of the Maze.
What's the point of the War Chamber and Maze scene?
* You should be able to figure it out for yourself.
* Do you know the answers to all the other questions in this
chapter?
* There are two goals for the War Chamber/Maze scene.
* The first goal is to get the awL
* The second goal is to remove your particle of common sense.
Page 49
n
INSIDE THE WHALE
The map for this area of the game can be found on page N.
Who am I?
* You're still Arthur in this scene.
Where am I?
* You're inside a sperm whale, obviously.
* Note the sound of rushing air.
* The Improbability Drive, in one of its nastier coincidences,
has transported you inside the very same whale you created
when you used the Drive to save the ship during the missile
attack.
* If you recall, the missiles were turned into a sperm whale,
which was last seen plummeting through the atmosphere of
Magrathea. This explains why, after a few turns, the whale
invariably splats (and you along with it).
Who's the old man with the wooden puppet?
* The old man is Gepetto the carpenter.
* The puppet is his creation, Pinocchio.
* Their boat was swallowed by the whale. If you hide in the
Cargo Hold, perhaps you'll be able to escape.
* Don't go on until you've met the evil ice queen, the
seven dwarfs, and the talking dragon.
* What game are you playing?
How can I get out of the whale?
* There are no exits in any direction.
* If you wait long enough, you'll splat and return to Dark.
Page 50
* There's one other way to get out of the whale.
* It's a method you've used before.
* It win also leave you in Dark.
* Hitchhike using the Thumb.
* The Thumb is probably broken, though. You'll have to get it
fixed by an Engineer robot.
How can I prevent the whale from splatting?
* You can't.
* No matter what you do, you've only got ten moves in the whale
before it splats.
How can I get the flowerpot out of the whale?
* There are two ways to do this.
* One way involves the Thumb.
* The other method involves the thing your aunt gave you which
you don't know what it is.
* To obtain the flowerpot using the thumb, just pick up the pot
and hitchhike.
* For more details, see the question on getting out of the whale.
* To obtain the flowerpot using the aunt's gift: the aunt's gift has
an unusual property you may not have discovered. See the question
about the aunt's gift.
* Just put the flowerpot inside the aunt's gift and then wait
until the whale splats. Within a few turns after leaving Dark,
the aunt's gift should re-appear, containing the pot.
What's the point of this scene inside the whale?
* Isn't it obvious?
There really isn't much here.
The only point of this scene is to get the flowerpot.
Page 52
GENERAL QUESTIONS
3s there any significance to "no tea"?
* Yes.
* It's a hint that at 90 me point, getting tea will be important.
* Also, see the question about the screening door in the Corridor,
Aft End.
What the Zark is the thing my aunt gave me that I don't know what it is?
* Have you tried examining it?
* Have you tried getting rid of it?
* You've probably noticed that it keeps turning up.
* If you leave it behind, it will pop up about a dozen moves later,
sometimes on the ground where you are, sometimes in your inventory,
and sometimes in your gown pocket. (The thing will only "follow" you
when you are Arthur.)
* There's something else that you probably haven't noticed about the
thing your aunt gave you.
* You can put things in it. In fact, you can put almost every takeable
item into the thing at the same time.
* This is useful for transporting more objects than you can carry, but
it isn't ever necessary to do so.
* Because of these two properties (auto-return and containment) the
thing your aunt gave you provides an alternate solution of one of the
puzzles in the game.
* It's a puzzle toward the very end of the game.
* It's the puzzle of getting the flowerpot out of the whale.
Page 53
Is the Hitchhiker's Guide important?
* WelU the game IS named after it...
* The various entries in the Guide contain all sorts of useful
information and hints that you'll need to solve the puzzles
in the game.
* The proper syntax for reading a particular Guide entry is
CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT [item]. For example, if you want to find
out what the Guide has to say about mushrooms, you would type
CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT MUSHROOMS.
* Once you know the solutions to all the puzzles, you could play
to the end of the game without ever using the Guide.
* There are 39 Guide entries in the game. A complete list of the
topics that summon these entries appears in one of the appendices
of this hint booklet.
What is the Thumb? How does it work? Is it important?
* The Thumb is an electronic Sub-Etha Auto-Hitching Device.
If used properly, it will allow you to hitch rides aboard
passing spaceships.
* You should read the Guide entry on the Thumb.
* You can examine the Thumb to determine whether a spaceship
is within range. (Ef the lights are flashing, a ship is nearby.)
* If a ship is within range, you can transport yourself to the
ship (via a matter transference beam) by pushing the green button.
* If you press the green button when there is no ship around, you'll
20break the Thumb.
* Also, the Thumb will break down on its own over the course of the
Page 54
game.
* If tiie Thumb is broken, you will not be transported when you press
the green button, even if a ship is nearby.
* A broken Thumb can be mended.
* To do so, push the red button to sum m on a repair robot. See the
following question for further details on repairing the Thumb.
* There are three points in the game when you can use the Thumb.
* The first time is near the very beginning of the game, when you
use it to get to the Vogon ship.
* The second time is when you're in the Airlock of the Vogon ship.
It isn't necessary to do so, because simply waiting a few turns
has the same result.
* The third time is when you're Inside the Sperm Whale. Once again,
there's an alternative to using the Thumb, but in this case it's not
as simple as just waiting. See the chapter entitled "Inside the
Whale" for more information on that.
Is the Engineer robot important?
* Only the Engineer robot can fix the Thumb.
* Once you've summoned the Engineer robot, SHOW (or GIVE) THE THUMB
TO
THE ENGINEER ROBOT.
* If the robot claims that there's nothing wrong with the Thumb, then
it wasn't broken.
* If the Thumb is broken, the Engineer robot won't agree to fix it
unless you also SHOW THE GUARANTEE TO THE ENGINEER ROBOT.
* Actually, you can shortcut directly to showing the guarantee.
Page 55
What's all this nonsense about fluff?
* There does seem to be a lot of it scattered throughout the game.
* Have you consulted the Guide about fluff?
* The ancient legend is of particular interest.
* There are a total of four pieces of fluff in the game. You'll have
to find and obtain all four.
* Try finding them yourself. When you're stumped, return to this
question.
* Hint: You "play" four different roles over the course of the game:
Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Zaphod.
* You can obtain one piece of fluff from each role.
* A list of all four, and their locations, follows. You shouldn't
look at this list unless you're completely stumped, because it
will give away a lot.
* pocket fluff - in the pocket of your gown at the start of the game
satchel fluff - inside Ford's satchel (see The Earth, Revisited)
jacket fluff - on Arthur's jacket (see At The Party)
seat cushion fluff - under the pilot seat of the speedboat (see
On Damogran)
* Now that you have all. four pieces of fluff, any idea what to do
with them?
* Don't continue until you have the flowerpot.
* You should plant each piece of fluff in the flowerpot.
* Now wait.
* A tiny plant will sprout around ten moves later.
Page 56
n
* For more information, see the next question.
What do I do about the pLant?
* Left to itself, the tiny sprout will never grow any further.
* You have nothing to water the plant with.
* Read the Guide entry on fluff again.
* Notice that this rare pLant once grew on a tropical world.
* Can you think of anything around that's similar to a tropical
environment?
* Carry the plant into the sauna.
* Now examine the plant.
* Now see the question about opening the hatch.
What are all these tools scattered throughout the game?
* Have you examined them?
* Many of them are rather excitingly high-tech, aren't they?
* They don't really have much use.
* Until the very end of the game.
* See the question about opening the hatch.
* Marvin will ask for one of ten different tools.
* A list of all ten, and their locations, follows. You shouldn't
look at this list unless you're completely stumped, because it
will give away a lot.
* flathead screwdriver - in your Bedroom
toothbrush - in your Bedroom
tweezers - inside Trillian's handbag
molecular hyper wave pincer - on the Bridge
ionic diffusion rasp - in the Engine Room
Page 57
hypersonic pliers - in the Engine Room
thermo-fusion chisel - in Marvin's Pantry
laser-assisted monkey wrench - inside the toolbox on the speedboat
ultra-plasmic vacuum awl - in the War Chamber
number twelve asteroid paint chipper - you're holding it when you
return from your adventure at the end of the Traal scene
What is the goal of the game?
* Have you tried asking some of the other characters in the story?
* Have fun, be happy.
* Solve all the puzzl.es, reach the end.
* The ultimate goal of the game is to step out onto the
surface of Magrathea.
* Knowing this fact is of virtually no help in getting
through the game.
How can I read the footnotes?
* You obviously didn't read your manual very carefully. That's
explained in the section entitled Important Commands.
Page 58
r
MAPS
[Map of Earth]
[Map of Vogon Ship]
[Map of the Heart of Gold]
[Map of Traal]
[Map of Damogran]
[Map of the party]
[Map of the War Chamber and Maze]
[Map of the Whale]
\
Page 59
HOW ALL THE POINTS ARE SCORED
This section should only be used as a last resort, or for your own interest
after you've completed the game.
10 pointsTaking the buffered analgesic
5 poirrtsDrinking or enjoying the beer (first time, as Arthur)
5 points Drinking or enjoying the beer (second time, as Arthur)
5 points Drinking or enjoying the beer (third time, as Arthur)
8 points Arriving at the Vogon Hold
12 points Getting the babel fish in your ear
15 pointsEnjoying the Vogon poetry
25 pointsOpening the glass case in the Vogon Hold
25 pointsEntering the Engine Room of the Heart of Gold
25 pointsGetting the Nutri mat/Computer Interface
15 pointsDrinking or enjoying the beer (as Ford)
25 pointsLeaving the party with Phil
25 pointsStealing the Heart of Gold on Damogran
25 pointsTaking the com m on sense particle
100 pointsDrinking the tea
25 pointsEntering Marvin's Pantry
25 pointsEntering the sauna with the plant, thus blooming it
25 pointsGetting Marvin to open the hatch
400 pointsTOTAL
You LOSE 30 points for eating the cheese sandwich, or drinking the
Advanced
Tea Substitute, or turning on the spare Drive while plugged into the large
Page 60
r
receptacle before the missile attack begins.
Page 61
FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT
You shouldn't develop anything in this section until you've finished the
game. Things in the section will invariably give away the answers to
puzzles in the game.
Have you tried...
* looking under your bed?
* enjoying the mud while you're lying in front of the bulldozer?
* to PHONE HOME from your bedroom?
* asking Prosser for the time?
* to GET DRUNK in the pub?
* buying peanuts (as Arthur)?
* listening to the jukebox music (several times, and then again when
you're Ford)?
* petting or kicking the dog?
* feeding peanuts to the dog? (You can only do this as Ford, of
course.)
* hitting Prosser (before and after your house is demolished)?
* enjoying your house after it's been demolished?
* asking PROSSER, WHAT ABOUT MY HOME after it's been demolished?
* giving the towel, the thing your aunt gave you, or the satchel to
Prosser? (You can only do the last one when you're Ford, of course.)
* talking to Prosser after the Vogon fleet has arrived?
* eating the cheese sandwich when you're Ford?
* going straight bo the Pub when you're Ford, instead of giving
Arthur the bowel, and then waiting a few turns?
* yelling in the Dark?
Page 62
* waiting about 60 turns in Dark to see the hints you get?
* not eating the peanuts in the Vogon Hold?
* drinking the Santraginean Mineral Water?
* asking FORD, WHAT ABOUT THE EARTH once it's been destroyed?
* enjoying the Vogon poetry without the babel fish?
* developing the invisible printing in this booklet with a mixture
of shampoo and apple cider instead of the developing marker?
* doesn't work very well, does it?
* opening the hatch in the Heart of Gold before landing on Magrathea?
* kicking the screening door, then entering Marvin's Pantry?
* closing the screening door once you've opened it?
* reading the tiny message on the circuit board with the
magnifying glass?
* smashing the circuit board?
* turning on the spare Drive, plugged into the control panel, before
the missile attack begins?
* turning on the spare Drive during the missile attack, without first
plugging it into the control panel?
* asking Eddie to open the hatch after the ship has landed?
* not going to the Access Space after asking Marvin to fix the hatch?
* saying something other than your name when the Beast asks for it?
* saying your name with the towel over your eyes?
* to CARVE NAME ON MEMORIAL (rather than CARVE MY NAME ON
MEMORIAL)?
* carving one of the names suggested by the previous item?
* carving the Beast's name on the memorial?
Page 63
* reading the memorial (both before and after carving your name)?
* showing the thing your aunt gave you to the Beast?
* waking the sleeping Beast?
* drinking the wine at the party?
* eating one of the hors d' oeuvres? (Try several times.)
* throwing the glass of wine or the plate of hors d' oeuvres?
* to PICK UP ARTHUR or PICK UP PHIL at the party?
* jumping into the water from the Presidential Speedboat?
* throwing something into the water from the boat?
* shooting the crowd, the guards, TrHlian, yourself, the toolbox...
* ordering GUARDS, SHOOT both before and after they've dropped
their photon rifles?
* examining the approaching star system and the third planet from
the War Chamber of the battle fleet?
* talking to the Vl'Hurg leader or G'Gugvunt leader?
* dropping something in the Maze (your brain) and then walking around
once you've gotten out?
* talking to the bulldozer driver, the Vogon Captain, or the hostess?
* closing the thing your aunt gave you?
* wrapping the towel around your head anywhere except Traal?
* typing I AM ARTHUR DENT to the game (as opposed to while talking
to a character in the game)?
* typing PANIC? How about DON'T PANIC?
* pushing the red button on the Thumb when an Engineer robot is
already present?
* counting the hors d' oeuvres, the crowd at the Dais, or the guards
Page 64
(at various points)?
* typing DON'T LOOK or DON'T WAIT or DON'T [anything else]?
* examining the bulldozer, the Vogon fleet, the flowerpot, the
mechanism in the Access Space, or various tools?
* typing GIVE UP or THROW IN THE TOWEL or PULL MYSELF
TOGETHER?
* brushing your teeth with the toothbrush?
* typing ESCAPE at any point?
* filling anything?
A
* returning to various scenes after you've successfully completed
them? (Examples: returning to Damogran after stealing the Heart
of Gold, returning to Traal after getting the interface...)
i
* typing APPLAUD at any point (other than during the poetry reading)?
* answering the game's various rhetorical questions, such as "Did
you have a particular direction in mind?" or "Don't you think it
would be a bad idea to leave the ceremonies?", by typing YES or NO
* typing APPRECIATE [something]?
* asking various characters about the object of the game? (Especially
Prosser, Ford, Marvin, Eddie, the Nutrimat, the screening door, and
the Beast.)
* calling Infocom's Technical Hotline and trying to convince them
that you're Abraham Lincoln?
Page
GUIDE ENTRIES
Here's a complete list of all the things that you can CONSULT the
Hitchhiker's
Guide about. You should use it only as a last resort, or for your interest
once
you've finished the game.
ALCOHOL
ATOMIC VECTOR PLOTTER
BABEL FISH
BROWNIAN MOTION
DAMOGRAN
EARTH
FLUFF
FRANCE
GALACTIC SECURITY AGENCY
GALAXIA WOONBEAM
GENUINE PEOPLE PERSONALITIES
GREEN BUTTON
HEART OF GOLD
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE
IMPROBABILITY DRIVES
INFOCOM
INTELLIGENCE
LARGE PLUG
LONG DANGLY BIT
MAGRATHEA
MATTER TRANSFERENCE BEAMS
NUTRIM AT
PAN-GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER
PERIL-SENSITIVE SUNGLASSES
PROTEIN
RAVENOUS BUGBLATTER BEAST OF TRAAL
RED BUTTON
SANTRAGINEAN MINERAL WATER
SIRIUS CYBERNETICS CORPORATION
SMALL PLUG
SMALL RECEPTACLE
SPACE
THUMB
TOWEL
VOGON POETRY
VOGONS
WALKING
various tools
various weapons
Page 67
/^N
FOOTNOTES
The section tells how to find the place where each footnote is referenced in
the game. Once again, you shouldn't develop this section until you finished,
because it will probably ruin some puzzles for you.
Footnote 1 -
Footnote 2 -
Footnote 3 -
Footnote 4 -
RELAX or ENJOY THE DARKNESS in the Dark
Refer to your home as a HOUSE while talking to Ford
Upon arrival at the Presidential Speedboat
Listen to the music in the Pub several times, until
"Hey Jude" is the song that is playing
Footnote 5 - Remove the towel in the Beast's Outer Lair after the
Beast has gone to sleep
Footnote 6 - Type FOOTNOTE without any number after it to see where
this footnote is referenced
Footnote 7 - Shoot the Beast three times with the anti-Beast gun
Footnote 8 - Consult the Guide about fluff
Footnote 9 - Get the Guide entry on SPACE by having the Guide
with you when you're hLown out of the Airlock
Footnote 10 - When the game finally gives in and describes
the Engine Room
Footnote 11
Footnote 12
Footnote 13
Footnote 14
This footnote is not referenced anywhere in the game
This footnote is referenced only by itself
Push the boat's autopilot button three times
When Ford hands you the Guide in the Vogon Hold
Footnote 15 - Read the banner at the Dais
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Ei 8?
Author Douglas Adams,
wrote ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Douglas Adams,
whose cult science-fiction comedy
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy” drew millions of fans and
spawned a small industry, died
Friday of a heart attack. He was
49.
Mr. Adams, who was bom in
Britain, died in Santa Barbara, Ca-
lif., while working out at a gym.
The “Hitchhiker’s Guide,”
which began as a British Broad-
casting Corp. radio series in 1978,
is a satirical adventure about a
group of interplanetary travelers.
It opens with Earth being de-
stroyed to make way for an inter-
galactic highway.
The series was turned into a
book, which sold 14 million copies
around the world, and later into a
television series.
The book was followed by sev-
eral sequels, including “The Res-
taurant at the End of the Uni-
verse,” “Life, the Universe and
Everything” and “So Long, and
Thanks for All the Fish.”
Mr. Adams spoke of how he
had thought up the book while on
a teenage trip.
“I was hitchhiking around Eu-
rope in 1971, when I was 18, with
this copy of A Hitchhiker’s Guide
to Europe,’ ” he said.
“At one point I found myself ly-
ing in the middle of a field, a little
bit drunk, when it occurred to me
that somebody should write a
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It didn’t occur to me that it might
actually be me years later.”
The book came in 24th of the
top 100 books of the 20th century
in a poll conducted by the Water-
stone’s bookstore chain and Chan-
nel 4 television.
Bom in Cambridge, England,
in 1952 and educated at Cam-
bridge University, Mr. Adams be-
gan his career as a writer and
script editor at the BBC, including
work on BBC TV’s “Doctor Who.”
Mr. Adams followed the
“Hitchhiker’s Guide” with several
books about a “holistic detective,”
Dirk Gently. There were also “Last
Chance to See,” a book about en-
dangered species; and, with John
Lloyd, the alternative dictionary
“The Meaning of Liff.”
Mr. Adams also founded a mul-
timedia company, Digital Village,
which produced the “Starship Ti-
tanic” computer game and an on-
line travel guide.
A frequent radio broadcaster
on science and technology, Mr. Ad-
ams had been working for several
years on a screenplay for an oft-de-
layed “Hitchhiker’s Guide” movie.
Mr. Adams married Jane Bel-
son, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple,
who had lived in Santa Barbara
since 1999, had a daughter, Polly.
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High-quality reproductions of
Glohe front pages
★ I hr I Vos ton ( « i <>bt* S \ o it ★
At the comer of Washington and
School Street, Downtown Boston
617-367*4000
bit drunk, when it occurred to me
that somebody should write a
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It didn’t occur to me that it might
actually be me years later.”
The book came in 24th of the
top 100 books of the 20th century
in a poll conducted by the Water-
stone’s bookstore chain and Chan-
nel 4 television.
Bom in Cambridge, England,
W.C. CANNIFF & SONS, INC.
531 Cummins Highway
Roslindale, MA 02131
TEL: 617-323-3690
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Select Barre, Vermont Granite, price includes
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BRANCH OFFICES & DISPLAYS
Cambridge: 583 Mt. Auburn St.
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—
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.*W\or\ (fffeW
line travel guide.
A frequent radio broadcaster
on science and technology, Mr. Ad-
ams had been working for several
years on a screenplay for an oft-de-
layed “Hitchhiker’s Guide” movie.
Mr. Adams married Jane Bel-
son, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple,
who had lived in Santa Barbara
since 1999, had a daughter, Polly.
There ’s always
something great in
store for you.
Boston Globe published photographs
High-quality reproductions of
Globe front pages
♦ rile 1
os ton ( 1 lobe Si ore ★
I
At the comer of Washington and
School Street, Downtown Boston
617*367-4000
www.globestore.boston.com
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lUbUdiiu duu ui v^ievciauu, wn. luviiik ki chili—
nother of Jon Carlisle and Robert Tracy
iartels. Great grandmother of Liandra
Carlisle. Daughter of Peter Bruno of Medford.
Jister of Ronald Bruno of Medford. Also sur-
vived by nieces & nephews. Funeral from the
ohn C. Burns & Sons Funeral Home, 305
3roadway, CAMBRIDGE, Tuesday, May 15 at
>:00 A.ML followed by a Funeral Mass in St.
viary's Church, Cambridge at 10:00 A.M. Rel-
atives & friends invited, visiting hours, Mon-
day 4-8 P.M. In lieu of flowers memorials
nay be made in Barbara's name to the Sanc-
ta Maria Nursing Facility, C/O Administration
Office, 799 Concord Ave.. Cambridge, MA
12140. interment, Cambridge cemetery.
TRAY— Of Medfield, May 8. 2001, Marie E.
Barry). Widow of the late Albert T. Tray. Lov-
ng mother of Christina M. Olmedo of New-
Dury Park, CA.. Anthony P. Tray of Medfield,
Victoria M. Sullivan of Franklin and Barry A.
rray of New Bedford. Sister of Anne B. O Bri-
an of South Boston, also survived by 3 grand-
children, Jessica and Dylan Sullivan and Sa-
mantha Tray. Relatives and friends may gath-
er at the Roberts-Mitchell Funeral Home, 15
Miller St., MEDFIELD, on Monday, May 14 at
9 a.m. for a Mass of Christian Burial at St.
Edward the Confessor Church, Medfield at
10. Burial at Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield.
WOODS — Of Medford, formerly of Somer-
ville, May 10, William P. Jr., beloved husband
ley & r __ _
Medford. Cherished son 'of Ger-
trude (Queenan) woods of
Charlestown and the late william P. Woods,
Sr. Brother of Thomas P. woods and Debra
A. Thebearge both of Medford, Jacquelyn M.
Woods of Everett, and the late Charles M.
Woods. Also survived by many lovinjg nieces
Roberts-Mitchell Funeral Service
Medfield, ma.
1 - 508 - 359-2000
WALES— In Arlington, May 12, Mary A. be-
loved daughter of the late Edward and Julia
Joyce. Dear friend of Michael and Rosemary
Burke of Rye, NH. Funeral from the Keefe Fu-
neral Home, 5 Chestnut St., Route 60, AR-
LINGTON (adjacent to St. Agnes Church), on
Monday at 8:30 a.m. Funeral Mass in St. Ag-
nes Church at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends
invited. Member St. Agnes Ladies Sodality
and Arlington Catholic women's Club. Visit-
ing hours Monday 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Rela-
tives and friends invited.
>y many I
and nephews. Funeral from tne Dello Russo
Funeralt-lome, 306 Main St, MEDFORD Mon
day at 9AM followed by a Funeral Mass cele
brated in St. Francis or Assisi Church, Fells—
way West, Medford, at 10 AM. Relatives and
friends are respectfully invited. Visiting hrs
Sun. 2-4 8. 7-9. Services will conclude with
burial at Oak Grove cemetery, Medford. Late
U.S. Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War,
late member of the Medford American Le-
gion Post 45 and Somerville Sons of Italy.
IN MEMORIAM
2000-Eliberto "Burt" Pennington-2001
A Memorial Mass will be said on Sat., May 19 at
5 p.m. at The St. Cecelia's Parish, 18 Belvidere
St., Boston. Family and friends are invited to at-
tend. Contributions in Burt's memory may be
made to the newly estab. scholarship fund at Del
Mar College Foundation, c/o Burt Pennington,
101 Baldwin St., Corpus Christi, Texas 78404.
Rita Weitzman
Happy Mothers Day!
Who saia time heals all wounds?
we're sure they coulnd't know
How very hard it was for us
To ever let you go
Love & Miss you. Your Family
5/25/2000 RUTH T. MCDONOUGH S/13/2001
on your 1st Mother's Day in heaven.
Mother-Our beloved "Miss Mouse"
If tears could build a stairway, and memories a
lane, we'd walk right up to heaven and bring you
home again. We all love you and miss you. Your
children, Arlene,
Richard and Jane.
Bobbie, MaryRuth, Carolyn,
The Monopoly Is Over.... Buy Direct and Save Money
The Devon. 20 ga non-sealer The same 20 ga non-seal
Casket Royale Price $595,000 Funeral Home Price $1999.00*
New Federal Ruling allows Consumers to purchase their caskets direct and funeral
homes must accept delivery free of charge. Please call our toll-free number for more
information and helpful facts regarding the Funeral Rule and purchasing caskets
from Casket Royale. Call Casket Royale at 1-800-791-4169 or visit our showroom
located at 137 Lafayette Road, Hampton Falls, NH.
http://www.casketroyale.com • 1-800-791-4169
*price based on national average
FUNERAL
SERVICES
FUNERAL HOMES
SCHLOSSBERG & SOLOMON
MEMORIAL CHAPEL
£ FAMILY OWNED £ FAMILY OPERATED $
CARL SCHLOSSBERG, DIRECTOR
824 Washington Street, Canton
781-828-6990 • 1-800-828-6993
-Minutes from Sharon Memorial Park -
LEVINE-BRISS FUNERAL HOME
Family Owned & Operated
Serving the So. Shore Jewish Community
for over 20 years
RANDOLPH 781-963-2900
STANETSKY
MEMORIAL CHAPELS
475 Washington St., Canton
781-821-4600 • 800-842-4280
BRUCE SCHLOSSBERG, DIRECTOR
New Chapel closest to Sharon Mem. Park
A Family Service Affiliate of AFFS/SCI 492 Rock St, Fall River, MA.
SWEENEY BROTHERS HOME FOR FUNERALS, INC.
1 Independence Ave., Quincy 617-472-6344
Serving Quincy 8t The South Shore
FLORISTS
SEND FLOWERS O SHOP ON UNE
www.cliffords.com or phone 1 -800-441 -8884
~ Specialists in time sensitive delivery ~
FRUIT BASKETS
THE PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE
^ TO FLOWERS
ffltuna’s FRUIT &GIFT BASKET WORLD
www.rumas.com / 1-800-252-8282
MONUMENTS
CANNIFF • 323-3690
531 Cummings Highway, Rosiindale
583 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge
1-800-439-3690 617-876-9110
84 Penn Street, Quincy 617-472-7405
DAVIS MONUMENTS 524-4300
3859 Washington Street, Rosiindale
Since 1862 - MA Leading Monument Specialist
mS. CARRIGG & SON • 617-323-2454
772 La Grange St.Near St. Joseph’s Cemetery W. Roxbury
nuuci 13-miu.iicii runcim
Medfield, MA.
1 - 508 - 359-2000
Rita Weitzman
WALES— in Arlington, May 12, Mary A be-
loved daughter of the late Edward and Julia
Joyce. Dear friend of Michael and Rosemary
Burke of Rye, NH. Funeral from the Keefe Fu-
neral Home, 5 Chestnut St., Route 60 AR-
LINGTON (adjacent to St. Agnes Church), on
Monday at 8:30 a.m. Funeral Mass in St. Ag-
nes Church at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends
invited. Member St. Agnes Ladies Sodality
and Arlington Catholic women's Club. Visit-
ing hours Monday 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Rela-
tives and friends invited.
Happy Mothers Day!
Who saidtime heals all wounds?
we're sure they coulnd’t know
How very hard it was for us
To ever let you go
Love & Miss you. Your Family
5/25/2000 RUTH T. MCDONOUGH 5/13/2001
On your 1st Mother's Day in heaven.
Mother-Our beloved "Miss Mouse'
If tears could build a stairway, and memories a
lane, we'd walk right up to heaven and bringyou
home again, we all love you and miss you. your
children, Arlene, Bobbie, MaryRuth, Carolyn,
Richard and Jane.
The Monopoly Is Over.... Buy Direct and Save Money
ri
r
jSsSS
The Devon. 20 ga non-sealer
Casket Royale Price $595,000
The same 20 ga non-seal
Funeral Home Price $1999.00*
New Federal Ruling allows Consumers to purchase their caskets direct and funeral
homes must accept delivery free of charge. Please call our toll-free number for more
information and helpful facts regarding the Funeral Rule and purchasing caskets
from Casket Royale. Call Casket Royale at 1-800-791-4169 or visit our showroom
located at 137 Lafayette Road, Hampton Falls, NH.
http://www.casketroyale.com • 1-800-791-4169
*price based on national average
FUNERAL
SERVICES
FUNERAL HOMES
SCHLOSSBERG & SOLOMON
MEMORIAL CHAPEL
j» FAMILY 0WHE0«iFAMILr OPERATED S
CARL SCHLOSSBERG, DIRECTOR
824 Washington Street, Canton
781-828-6990 • 1-800-828-6993
~ Minutes from Sharon Memorial Park-
LEVINE-BRISS FUNERAL HOME
Family Owned & Operated
Serving the So. Shore Jewish Community
for over 20 years
RANDOLPH 781-963-2900
STANETSKY
MEMORIAL CHAPELS
475 Washington St., Canton
781-821-4600 • 800-842-4280
BRUCE SCHLOSSBERG, DIRECTOR
New Chapel closest to Sharon Mem. Park
A Family Service Affiliate of AFFS/SCI 492 Rock St, Fall River, MA.
SWEENEY BROTHERS HOME FOR FUNERALS, INC.
1 Independence Ave., Quincy 617-472-6344
Serving Quincy & The South Shore
FLORISTS
SEND FLOWERS O SHOP ON UNE
www.cliffords.com or phone 1 -800-441 -8884
- Specialists in time sensitive delivery ~
FRUIT BASKETS
THE PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE
TO FLOWERS
f/huntr'x FRUIT & GIFT BASKET WORLD
www.rumas.com / 1-800-252-8282
MONUMENTS
CANNIFF • 323-3690
531 Cummings Highway, Roslindale
583 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge
1-800-439-3690 617-876-9110
84 Penn Street, Quincy 617-472-7405
DAVIS MOHDMENTS 524-4300
3859 Washington Street, Roslindale
Since 1862 ~ MA Leading Monument Specialist
mS. CARRIGG & SON • 617-323-2454
772 La Grange St.Near St. Joseph’s Cemetery W. Roxbury
41 No. Cary St, Brockton, 508-586-6588
To advertise in this listing please call 61 7-929-8358
file:/web/munger/templates/newschannel.html
k
Hitch Hiker's Guide to Galaxy Author Adams
Dies
REUTERS i Sat, 12 May 2001 , 02:00PM
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Douglas Adams, the cult
author who wrote "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy,"
has died suddenly at the age of 49.
Adams, who was married with a six-year-old daughter, died
of a heart attack on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara,
California, his personal assistant Sophie Astin said.
"It was a very sudden and unexpected death," Astin told
Reuters.
Adams' science fiction saga, about a group of galactic
travelers who survive the demolition of earth to build a
space by-pass, began life as a 1978 BBC Radio series.
It was turned into best-selling novels, a TV series, record
album, computer game and adapted for stage. It made
Adams a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.
News Headlines
McVeigh Weighs Options As
U.S. Delays Execution
US Warns of Bin Laden Threat
to Americans Overseas
Wail Collapses in Western
China, 12 People Die
Execution Delay Leaves Indiana
City in Suspense
B ush Says Con servat ion K ey
Part of Energy Strategy
Hitch Hiker's Guide to Galaxy
Author Adams Dies
Democrats Flunk Bush on
Education
Israelis Blast Palestinian
Officer's Car, Two Dead
Key Senator Says U.S. Too
'Docile' with China
Bomb Explodes in Madrid on
Eve of Basgue Vote
British author and television personality Stephen Fry was
among hundreds of friends and fans who paid tribute to
Adams on his official Web site.
One message, titled "DOUGLAS NOOOOOQ," claimed to
be from Ford Prefect, the lead alien character from "The
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It read: "Why do the talented ones die young?"
Expanded Coverage
More Headline News
International News
Political News
Science News
News Channel Archives
Astin said she had received calls from Adams's friends Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame,
and David Gilmour of the rock group Pink Floyd.
Adams was working on a new novel and on an online guide, h2g2, inspired by "The Hitch
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," at the time of his death. Work is also under way to turn the
story into a film.
"He was pretty unique in being innovative in media after media -- from radio to the web,"
said Ashley Highfield, BBC's head of new media, who was working with Adams on h2g2.
"He was still coming up with more new ideas than almost anyone I've met."
The "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" chronicles the journey of Ford Prefect and his
human companion Arthur Dent after the destruction of earth.
Page 1
12 May 2001 05:00 PM
r
file:/web/munger/templates/newschannel.html
The tale centers on the search for the answer to life and the universe -- which turns out to
be 42.
The novel has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and was followed by sequels,
"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So
Long and Thanks for all the Fish."
While Adams will be remembered for his science fiction, he also worked for the protection
of endangered species which he wrote about in his book "Last Chance to See."
Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952, educated at Brentwood School in Essex
and St. John's College Cambridge where in 1974 he gained an MA in English Literature.
He married Jane Belson in 1991 and had a daughter Polly in 1994.
Adams worked as a radio and television producer and writer before 'The Hitch Hiker's
Guide to the Galaxy" changed his life.
Geoffrey Perkins, who produced the original radio series and had known Adams for 25
years, called him one of the most creative geniuses to ever work in radio comedy.
"For somebody who was so involved in breakthroughs in new developments in
technology, it's a tragedy that he's died before most of the things he's talked about have
come about," said Perkins, now head of BBC comedy.
- By Andrew Hay
Previous Story Next Story
Copyright © Reuters Limited 2000. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters Limited
content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Reuters Limited. Reuters Limited shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions
taken in reliance thereon. Quotes are delayed at least 20 minutes, times are Eastern.
Page 2
12 May 2001 05:00 PM
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Jane Belson, Ed Victor ; Mary Allen.
BBC , Pan Macmillan & Random House
invite
you to a Party to celebrate the life of
DOUGLAS ADAMS
Monday 17th September 2001 at 6.00 pm
The Groucho Club , 45 Dean Street , London W1D 4QB
RSVP on enclosed card
Admission by invitation only
Dancing
You are invited to a
Service to celebrate the life of
DOUGLAS ADAMS
at
the Church of St Martin-in-the Fields , Trafalgar Square
on
Monday 17th September 2001 at 4.30 pm
RSVP on enclosed card
Admission by invitation only
SXwc wve/ejncu
Jane Belson , Ed Victor ; Mary Allen.
BBC , Pan Macmillan & Random House
invite
you to a Party to celebrate the life of
DOUGLAS ADAMS
Monday 17th September 2001 at 6.00 pm
The Groucho Club, 45 Dean Street, London W1D 4QB
RSVP on enclosed card
Admission by invitation only
Dancing
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You are invited to a
Service to celebrate the life of
DOUGLAS ADAMS
at
the Church of St Martin-in-the Fields , Trafalgar Squa
on
Monday 17th September 2001 at 4.30 pm
RSVP on enclosed card
Admission by invitation only
K
file:/web/munger/templates/newschannel.html
*
Hitch Hiker's Guide to Galaxy Author Adams
Dies
REUTERS f Sat, 12 May 2001 , 02:00PM
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Douglas Adams, the cult
author who wrote "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy,"
has died suddenly at the age of 49.
Adams, who was married with a six-year-old daughter, died
of a heart attack on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara,
California, his personal assistant Sophie Astin said.
"It was a very sudden and unexpected death," Astin told
Reuters.
Adams' science fiction saga, about a group of galactic
travelers who survive the demolition of earth to build a
space by-pass, began life as a 1978 BBC Radio series.
It was turned into best-selling novels, a TV series, record
album, computer game and adapted for stage. It made
Adams a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Hitch Hiker's Guide to Galaxy
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British author and television personality Stephen Fry was
among hundreds of friends and fans who paid tribute to
Adams on his official Web site.
One message, titled "DOUGLAS NOOOOOO," claimed to
be from Ford Prefect, the lead alien character from "The
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It read: "Why do the talented ones die young?"
Expanded Coverage
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Astin said she had received calls from Adams's friends Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame,
and David Gilmour of the rock group Pink Floyd.
Adams was working on a new novel and on an online guide, h2g2, inspired by "The Hitch
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," at the time of his death. Work is also under way to turn the
story into a film.
"He was pretty unique in being innovative in media after media -- from radio to the web,"
said Ashley Highfield, BBC's head of new media, who was working with Adams on h2g2.
"He was still coming up with more new ideas than almost anyone I've met."
The "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" chronicles the journey of Ford Prefect and his
human companion Arthur Dent after the destruction of earth.
Page 1
12 May 2001 05:00 PM
file:/web/munger/templates/newschannel.html
The tale centers on the search for the answer to life and the universe -- which turns out to
be 42.
The novel has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and was followed by sequels,
"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So
Long and Thanks for all the Fish."
While Adams will be remembered for his science fiction, he also worked for the protection
of endangered species which he wrote about in his book "Last Chance to See."
Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952, educated at Brentwood School in Essex
and St. John's College Cambridge where in 1974 he gained an MA in English Literature.
He married Jane Belson in 1991 and had a daughter Polly in 1994.
Adams worked as a radio and television producer and writer before "The Hitch Hiker's
Guide to the Galaxy" changed his life.
Geoffrey Perkins, who produced the original radio series and had known Adams for 25
years, called him one of the most creative geniuses to ever work in radio comedy.
"For somebody who was so involved in breakthroughs in new developments in
technology, it's a tragedy that he's died before most of the things he's talked about have
come about," said Perkins, now head of BBC comedy.
- By Andrew Hay
Previous Story Next Story
Copyright © Reuters Limited 2000. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters Limited
content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Reuters Limited. Reuters Limited shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions
taken in reliance thereon. Quotes are delayed at least 20 minutes, times are Eastern.
Page 2
12 May 2001 05:00 PM
Author Douglas Adams,
wrote ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Douglas Adams,
whose cult science-fiction comedy
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy” drew millions of fans and
spawned a small industry, died
Friday of a heart attack. He was
49.
Mr. Adams, who was born in
Britain, died in Santa Barbara, Ca-
lif., while working out at a gym.
The “Hitchhiker’s Guide,”
which began as a British Broad-
casting Corp. radio series in 1978,
is a satirical adventure about a
group of interplanetary travelers.
It opens with Earth being de-
stroyed to make way for an inter-
galactic highway.
The series was turned into a
book, which sold 14 million copies
around the world, and later into a
television series.
The book was followed by sev-
eral sequels, including “The Res-
taurant at the End of the Uni-
verse,” “Life, the Universe and
Everything” and “So Long, and
Thanks for All the Fish.”
Mr. Adams spoke of how he
had thought up the book while on
a teenage trip.
“I was hitchhiking around Eu-
rope in 1971, when I was 18, with
this copy of ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide
to Europe,’” he said.
“At one point I found myself ly-
iqgin the middie of a
bit drunk, when it occurred to me
that somebody should write a
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It didn’t occur to me that it might
actually be me years later.”
The book came in 24th of the
top 100 books of the 20th century
in a poll conducted by the Water-
stone’s bookstore chain and Chan-
nel 4 television.
Bom in Cambridge, England,
DOUGLAS ADAMS
in 1952 and educated at Cam-
bridge University, Mr. Adams be-
gan his career as a writer and
script editor at the BBC, including
work on BBC TV’s “Doctor Who.”
Mr. Adams followed the
“Hitchhiker’s Guide” with several
books about a “holistic detective,”
Dirk Gently. There were also “Last
Chance to See,” a book about en-
dangered species; and, with John
Lloyd, the alternative dictionary
“The Meaning of Lift.”
Mr. Adams also founded a mul-
timedia company, Digital Village,
which produced the “Starship Ti-
tanic’ 5
line travel guide.
A frequent radio broadcaster
on science and technology, Mr. Ad-
ams had been working for several
years on a screenplay for an oft-de-
layed “Hitchhiker’s Guide” movie.
Mr. Adams married Jane Bel-
son, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple,
who had lived in Santa Barbara
since 1999, had a daughter, Polly.
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BRANCH OFFICES & DISPLAYS
a ■ •» ■ ■ jl ■ aa
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something great in
store for you.
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High-quality reproductions of
Globe front pages
H' l>i)s t on ( 1 iobc Si ore *
At the comer of Washington and
School Street, Downtown Boston
617-367-4000
Mr. Adams, who was bom in
Britain, died in Santa Barbara, Ca-
lif., while working out at a gym.
The “Hitchhiker’s Guide,”
which began as a British Broad-
casting Corp. radio series in 1978,
is a satirical adventure about a
group of interplanetary travelers.
It opens with Earth being de-
stroyed to make way for an inter-
galactic highway.
The series was turned into a
book, which sold 14 million copies
around the world, and later into a
television series.
The book was followed by sev-
eral sequels, including “The Res-
taurant at the End of the Uni-
verse,” “Life, the Universe and
Everything” and “So Long, and
Thanks for All the Fish.”
Mr. Adams spoke of how he
had thought up the book while on
a teenage trip.
“I was hitchhiking around Eu-
rope in 1971, when I was 18, with
this copy of ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide
to Europe,’ ” he said.
“At one point I found myself ly-
ing in the middle of a field, a little
bit drunk, when it occurred to me
that somebody should write a
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It didn’t occur to me that it might
actually be me years later.”
The book came in 24th of the
top 100 books of the 20th century
in a poll conducted by the Water-
stone’s bookstore chain and Chan-
nel 4 television.
Bom in Cambridge, England,
DOUGLAS ADAMS
in 1952 and educated at Cam-
bridge University, Mr. Adams be-
gan his career as a writer and
script editor at the BBC, including
work on BBC TV’s “Doctor Who.”
Mr. Adams followed the
“Hitchhiker’s Guide” with several
books about a “holistic detective,”
Dirk Gently. There were also “Last
Chance to See,” a book about en-
dangered species; and, with John
Lloyd, the alternative dictionary
“The Meaning of Liff.”
Mr. Adams also founded a mul-
timedia company, Digital Village,
which produced the “Starship Ti-
tanic” computer- game and an on-
line travel guide.
A frequent radio broadcaster
on science and technology, Mr. Ad-
ams had been working for several
years on a screenplay for an oft-de-
layed “Hitchhiker’s Guide” movie.
Mr. Adams married Jane Bel-
son, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple,
who had lived in Santa Barbara
since 1999, had a daughter, Polly.
W.C. CANNIFF & SONS, INC.
531 Cummins Highway
Roslindale, MA 02131
TEL: 617-323-3690
1-800-439-3690
Over 1200 monuments on display
24” X 36” Cemetery
engraving
& cleaning
Bronze
markers
Select Barre, Vermont Granite, price includes
memorial with family name, one inscription and
delivery to cemetery. Cemetery charges, base
number if required, additional lettering and
Mass, sales tax extra.
Mon.- Sat. 9am-9pm Sun. 12pm-6pm
BRANCH OFFICES & DISPLAYS
Cambridge: 583 Mt. Auburn St.
Quincy: 84 Penn St.
S^VWtr\
There's always
something great in
store for you.
Boston Globe published photographs
High-quality reproductions of
Globe front pages
rile Host on ( i I obe Store
At the comer of Washington and
School Street, Downtown Boston
617-367-4000
www.globestore.boston.com
i to stock up on
IIDE TO THE GALAXY
ieason’s biggest hit!
T PA N Ho bead this
This may well be the most impor-
tant product announcement we’ve
ever sent you. Because Infocom’s
new HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY figures to rival
ZORK® itself as the best-selling
computer game of all time!
A Universe of
Potential Customers
in the Millions!
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HITCHHIKER’S lets you capitalize
on two enormous market seg-
ments. It’s a natural for the
5,000,000-plus people who bought the novel, The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. And that’s on top of
Infocom’s avid horde of fans— a solid base of customers who’ve
proven their loyalty with over 80% repeat sales!
Packaged for
Astronomical Sales!
No one packages a game like Infocom. And we’ve done it again
with HITCHHIKER’S. It comes in our new standardized pack-
aging that actually lets your customers see what they’re getting
inside -including many tangible playing pieces that add immense
value to the game. And outside, HITCHHIKER’S works like a
super salesman, attracting attention with its unique appearance,
and clinching sales with vivid and exciting descriptions and graphics!
55 Wheeler St., Ca
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a trademark of Douglas Adams.
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and cash in on the j
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